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The Postgraduate Networking Project
Lincoln Geraghty
School of American and Canadian Studies,
University of Nottingham
Nationality: Canadian
Funded
Part Time (Jan 01 - Sep 02) Full-Time (Sep 02 - end)
Registration: January 2001
Completion: May 2005
Director of Studies: Dr. Laura Chernaik (2001), Prof. Mark Jancovich (2002 & 2003-2004)
Second Supervisor: Dr Eithne Quinn (2002-2003)
The aim of the PhD
In May 2005 I completed my thesis on Star Trek and American fan culture. In it I focus on a broad range of primary material including film, fan correspondence and the multiple Star Trek series. The thesis examines the more 'ordinary' fan who does not participate in typical fan activities such as writing stories, producing artwork, or dressing up.
The first half explores the historical, socio-political, and narrative contexts of the Star Trek series. The second half is a reception-based investigation of the ways in which ordinary fans then engage with that text through writing letters published in fan magazines and edited collections.
Experience in stages towards the PhD
I moved on to the PhD after completing my MA dissertation on race and gender in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Initially I had a very focused idea for my PhD topic – examining Star Trek’s relationship with the literary form of the American Jeremiad – yet after starting part time and writing an introductory chapter I began to move away from a purely textual analysis of the series and I started to look at how fans interacted with the fictional text.
As a fan myself, and after conducting a thorough literature search, I wanted to address key themes that I felt had not been previously considered when scholars have looked at fans of all kinds of popular culture texts. After choosing to open up my thesis to incorporate fan letters I visited two libraries, the Science Fiction Foundation Collection at the University of Liverpool which housed British Star Trek magazines and the Gene Roddenberry Collection at UCLA which housed original correspondence relating to the 1960s series.
After travelling to UCLA and attending a fan convention in Los Angeles both my supervisor and I thought that a change in thematic emphasis in my analysis of the fan letters would better highlight how fans talk about and engage with the fictional text; rather than looking at letters which discussed specific events such as war and death, I started to focus on American themes such as utopia and self-improvement found in all the letters I discuss.
My experience of the PhD was largely a gradual and developing process, where ideas and thematic focus changed and evolved through continued interaction with my supervisors and my own close reading of the series and the new fan letters published and collected on research trips.
Support
Both Prof. Jancovich and Dr Quinn provided priceless support during my PhD studies, with Prof. Jancovich guiding me to completion while looking for jobs and applying to my current institution and Dr. Quinn supporting my application for funding from BAAS so that I could travel to the USA for research purposes.
During my time at Nottingham I was lucky enough to be funded for two years full time by the department and work as a Teaching Assistant; again Prof. Jancovich and Dr. Quinn helped enormously during this busy and challenging period of transition from part time to full time.
Funding and Awards:
* One Year full time PhD Studentship, School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham, 2002-2003.
* One Year full time PhD Studentship, School of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham, 2003-2004.
* Graduate School Conference Fund for Research Students Grant to attend and present at SFRA Conference, New Lanark, 28th June - 1st July 2002.
* Graduate School Library Bursary to visit Special Collections Library, University of Liverpool, 7th February 2003.
* BAAS Short Term Travel Grant for Research trip to Gene Roddenberry Collection, University of California, Los Angeles, 21st March - 2nd April, 2003.
* Heymann Scholarship, University of Nottingham, August 2003.
What you would suggest to a new PhD student...
All I would say is that before someone starts a PhD they must pick something which they have a passion for studying. The PhD could take up to 6 years so you need to make sure you will stick it out to the end.
Also, you may get knocked by academics and critics when you are on the PhD so be prepared to defend yourself and your work. And something else I would recommend is that you start thinking about publishing your work right from the very beginning - everything you write should be publishable in one form or another.
Abstract of the Thesis:
Living with Star Trek: Utopia, Community, Self-Improvement and the Star Trek Universe
Living with Star Trek investigates the connections between Star Trek fandom and the fictional Star Trek text. This study identifies and examines the American themes of utopia, community and self-improvement inherent within the fictional text which also form the thematic framework for letters written by fans to express their affection for the series. These letters represent a 'network of support', whereby a community of fans is able to communicate with each other through written correspondence sent to producers, edited collections, and fan magazines. In talking about the series, fans confess and share intimate stories, often based around trauma or bereavement, and at the same time describe how Star Trek has played an important and inspirational part in their daily lives; Star Trek's utopian vision and communal spirit has given them the impetus to enact positive change.
Drawing together the themes identified in the text and fan letters, the first half of the thesis examines Star Trek's use of history, narrative and myth to tell its futuristic stories. In particular, I examine how Star Trek has used the distinctive literary tradition of the Puritan American Jeremiad to create a didactic narrative that emphasises the attainment of utopia through communal effort and personal change. The second half of the thesis continues this inquiry by examining a range of letters that describe how fans are able to tap into the open nature of the Star Trek text and use it to fulfil needs and desires in their own daily lives. In particular, I stress how the letters are not just examples of fan affection but also represent a reciprocal relationship where fans can criticise and engage with the programme as well as use it as a form of motivation.
Publications and Papers
Books
Living with Star Trek: American Culture and Star Trek Fandom, London: I.B. Tauris, in press. (Due for publication 2006)
Edited Collections
"Subjects/Citizens" Special Issue Guest Editor, Critical Survey, in press.
A Science Fiction Phenomenon: Investigating the Star Trek Effect, Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishers, in press. (Due for publication 2006/07)
Generic Canons: Genre, History, Memory. Co-edited with Mark Jancovich. (Under consideration by academic presses)
Chapters in books
"Aging Toys and Players: Fan Identity and Cultural Capital." In Matthew Kapell and John Shelton Lawrence, eds. Finding the Force in the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise and Critics, New York: Peter Lang, in press.
"Playing Hard to Get: Game-Playing and the Search for Humanity in Star Trek and Red Dwarf." Co-author with Rebecca Janicker. In Pawel Frelik and David Mead, eds. The Games Science Fiction Plays, Lublin, Poland: Maria Curie-Sklodowska University Press, in press.
"Eight Days that Changed American Television: Star Trek's Opening Narration." In Lincoln Geraghty, ed. A Science Fiction Phenomenon: Investigating the Star Trek Effect, Jefferson, NC: McFarland Publishers, in press.
"A Truly American Enterprise: Star Trek's Post 9/11Politics." In Donald M. Hassler and Clyde Wilcox, eds. Political Science Fiction Vol. 2, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, in press.
"Poles Apart: Future Time, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise's 'Faith of the Heart'." In John Arnold and Karen Sayer, eds. History and Science Fiction/Science Fiction and History, in press.
"Fans on Film: Crossing the Frontiers of Star Trek Fandom in Galaxy Quest." In Bennett Huffman, ed. Transgressing the Frontier: Modernity, American Ideology, and Cinema, in press.
"Repackaging Generation One: Cross Genre Marketing and The Transformers as Adult/Children's Television." In Lincoln Geraghty and Mark Jancovich, eds. Generic Canons: Genre, History, Memory, in press.
"Painted Men and Salt Monsters: The Alien Body in 50s and 60s American Science Fiction Television." In Rayna Denison and Mark Jancovich, eds. Mysterious Bodies: Investigating the Corporeal in Television Drama, in press.
"Worldly Visions: Science Fiction Television and Patterns of Narrative History." In Lorna Jowett and Nick Heffernan, eds. Science Fiction: One Universe?, in press.
"The Pleasure of the Trek: Utopia and Community in the Star Trek Series." In Nickianne Moody and Nicole Matthews, eds. Series, Serials and Sequels: Repeated Pleasures in Popular Fiction, in press.
Articles
"Reading on the Frontier: A Star Trek Bibliography." Extrapolation 43.3 (2002): 288-313.
"'Carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives': Reality and Star Trek's Multiple Histories." European Journal of American Culture 21.3 (2002): 160-176.
"Homosocial Desire on the Final Frontier: Kinship, the American Romance, and Deep Space Nine's 'Erotic Triangles'." Journal of Popular Culture 36.3 (2003): 441-465.
"Telling Tales of the Future: Science Fiction and Star Trek's Exemplary Narratives." Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture 3.2 (Spring 2003).
"Neutralising the Indian: Native American Stereotypes in Star Trek: Voyager." Film & History CD-ROM Annual 2001-2002, September (2003).
"The American Jeremiad and Star Trek's Puritan Legacy." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts 14.2 (2003): 228-245.
"Neutralising the Indian: Native American Stereotypes in Star Trek: Voyager." US Studies Online 4, (Autumn 2003).
"'Help When Times are Hard': Bereavement and Star Trek Fan Letters." Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media, Volume 5 (2004).
"'Now That's What I Call a Close Encounter!': The Role of the Alien in Science Fiction Film, 1977 - 2001." Co-author with Rebecca Janicker. Scope: An On-line Journal of Film Studies, November (2004).
"Creating and Comparing Myth in Twentieth-Century Science Fiction: Star Trek and Star Wars." Literature/Film Quarterly 33.3 (2005): 191-200.
"A Network of Support: Coping with Trauma through Star Trek Fan Letters." The Journal of Popular Culture, in press.
"Love's Fantastic Voyage: Crossing between Science Fiction and Romantic Comedy in Innerspace." Extrapolation, in press.
GUEST LECTURES
"'For we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us': The American Jeremiad and Star Trek's Puritan Legacy."
- Research Seminar in the Department of American Studies, University College, Northampton, 17th February 2003.
"The Pleasure of the Trek: Confessions of Self-Improvement and Individualism in American Star Trek Fan Culture."
- Guest Lecture in the Department of Film Studies, University of Winchester, 4th May 2005.
CONFERENCE PAPERS AND PANELS
'Carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives': Reality and Star Trek's Multiple Histories."
- Presented at "American Visions" the BAAS - Funded One-Day Postgraduate Conference, 25th May 2002, University of Kent, Canterbury.
"'For we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us': The American Jeremiad and Star Trek's Puritan Legacy."
- Presented at the 33rd Annual SFRA Conference, 28th June - 1st July 2002, New Lanark, Scotland
- Presented at "Coast to Coast" the Annual BAAS Postgraduate Conference, 23rd November 2002, University of Sheffield.
"Creating and Comparing Myth in Twentieth Century Science Fiction: Star Trek and Star Wars."
- Presented at "New Myths?: Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror" the 5th Annual Conference of the Department of Arts & Media, 3rd May 2003, Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, High Wycombe.
"Poles Apart: Future Time, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise's 'Faith of the Heart'."
- Presented at the 34th Annual SFRA Conference, 26th-29th June 2003, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
- Presented at "The History of the Future, Visions from the Past" IAMHIST XX Conference, 16th-19th July 2003, University of Leicester.
"Neutralising the Indian: Native American Stereotypes in Star Trek: Voyager."
- Presented at "Race and Rights" a One-Day American Studies Symposium, 9th July 2003, University of Nottingham.
"Fans on Film: Crossing the Frontiers of Star Trek Fandom in Galaxy Quest."
- Presented at the One-Day American Studies Postgraduate Conference (UK South), 25th October 2003, Institute of United States Studies, University of London.
- Presented at "Taking Science Fiction Seriously ---but not solemnly," the 35th Annual SFRA Conference, 3rd - 6th June 2004, Skokie IL, USA.
"A Network of Support: Coping with Trauma through the Star Trek Community."
- Presented at the BAAS Annual Conference, 15th-18th April 2004, Manchester Metropolitan University.
"SF Film as Theory/Theory in SF Film."
- Panel discussion at "Taking Science Fiction Seriously ---but not solemnly," the 35th Annual SFRA Conference, 3rd - 6th June 2004, Skokie IL, USA.
"Totalitarian Tin Men: Assimilating Doctor Who's Cybermen."
- Presented at "Time And Relative Dissertations In Space: Critical Perspectives on Doctor Who" Conference, 1st July 2004, University of Manchester.
"The Biology of Love: Crossing Between Science Fiction and Romantic Comedy in Innerspace."
- Presented at "Love Maybe - A Romantic Comedy Study Day," 19th August 2004, University of Nottingham.
- Presented at "Laughing Matters: Comedy and Society," 15th-17th April 2005, University of Portsmouth.
'You give me a reason to live': Identification and Emotion in British Star Trek Fan Letters."
- Presented at "Audiences" the 10th Annual Association for Research in Popular Fictions Conference, 20th-21st November 2004, Liverpool John Moores University.
"'Realities... blending as one!': Film Texts and Intertexts in the Star Trek/X-Men Crossover Comics."
- Presented at MeCCSA and AMPE Joint Annual Conference, 5th-7th January 2005, University of Lincoln.
"Eight Days that Changed American Television: Star Trek's Opening Narration."
- Presented at PCA/ACA 35th and 27th Joint Annual Conference, 23rd-26th March 2005, San Diego CA, USA.
"'A Reason to Live': Utopia and Social Change in Star Trek Fan Letters."
- Presented at the 36th Annual SFRA Conference, 23rd - 26th June 2005, Las Vegas NV, USA.
"Playing with the Force: Politics, Cult Fandom, and Collecting Star Wars Toys."
- Presented at "Science Fiction(s): A Study Day on Science Fiction Film, Television, Literature and New Media," 19th August 2005, University of Nottingham.
"It's Not All About the Music: Pins, Promos and the Hard Rock Café."
- Research paper to be presented at the "Film and Media" Group, January 2006, University of Portsmouth.
"Repackaging Generation One: Cross Genre Marketing and The Transformers as Adult/Children's Television."
- To be presented at PCA/ACA 36th and 28th Joint Annual Conference, 12th-15th April 2006, Atlanta GA, USA.
MEDIA
* Telephone interview for Star Wars Feel the Force, Done and Dusted Productions/Sky One, 18th May 2005.
* Interview for Star Trek at 40 Documentary, Pier Productions/BBC Radio 2, February 2006
Current Job
As Senior Lecturer in Film Studies I have responsibility for the running of a core unit in media studies, Theorising Mass Media, and my own second year unit called Science Fiction Cinema.
I am currently Year Two Tutor, with responsibilities for student welfare and academic standards. Over the next year I will be coordinating two more units including Introduction to Film Theory and Film, Form and Narrative.
Contact details
Dr Lincoln Geraghty
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies
School of Creative Arts, Film and Media
University of Portsmouth
Mail: LB 1.10 Milldam, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, PO1 3AS, UK
Tel: +44 (0) 239 284 2216,
E-mail: Lincoln.Geraghty@port.ac.uk
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