Call for Papers: Furry Studies 2024

It has been a long time in the planning, but I’m pleased to announce that the first Furry Studies conference will be happening later this year in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Myself and the other members of the organisational committee have been working at making this a reality and, although we have a few more details to iron out, we are excited to share the Call for Papers!

CFP – Furry Studies 2024Download

More details are to follow, but if you have any burning questions drop me an email – vanguard@furrystudies.org, or contact the conference inbox – hello@furrystudies.org.

Furry Thoughts #2: The Furry Fandom and “Post-Con Depression”

As opposed to the previous “Furry Thoughts” post, this is not a thought that has occurred to me during the course of my research, nor is it even related to my research. Instead was an idea that occurred to me through conversations with furries at Scotiacon in February 2024. I don’t really have a structure in mind for this piece, so it will be more free-form than academic in nature.

Chasing Tails: Studying the Furry Fandom – Scotiacon 2024

Attached to this post are the slides from the talk we gave on the Sunday of Scotiacon 2024 called ‘Chasing Tails: Studying the Furry Fandom’. It starts with a brief discussion of what “furry” actually is, before outlining the current field of furry studies, and ends with information about our PhD research into the furry fandom as a safe space, along with other works either published or in the pipeline.

Furry Ex Machina: How does VRChat allow for modern instances of digital identity generation and immersion in the furry fandom?

This extended abstract was submitted to be presented at DiGRA 2024 main conference, which was submitted anonymously for peer review in the conference’s style and format. This has been accepted, so will be developed into a full paper to be delivered at DiGRA 2024 taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico in July 2024.

Furry Thoughts #1: The Digitisation of the Fursona

This post is related to a page in my research journal that I feverishly jotted down on 16th September 2023 while sitting at a fur meet. It’s my initial thoughts on the digitisation of the fursona in the wake of VRChat and the creation of the Protogen, and questions around whether furry has always been digital.

Non-Human/Nature: Post-Anthropocene World Design and Non-Human “Humanity” in FUGA: Melodies of Steel

This abstract has been submitted to British DiGRA for their 2024 conference, based on the slides I have previously posted on this topic that formed part of a talk in November 2023. If accepted, this will become a paper for this conference, and is proposing an initial examination of furry characters as potentially the “new humanity” in narratives.

WIP – Post-Anthropocene World Design in Furry Video Games

Attached to this post are the slides for a short talk I gave for the Works In Progress session with the Game Cultures research cluster at Birmingham City University in November 2023, called “Post-Anthropocene World Design in Furry Video Games”. It outlines my initial thoughts on post-Anthropocene fictions and how world design differs in these periods after humanity is no longer the main ecological impact on Earth, and how this relates to the furry video game, FUGA: Melodies of Steel (2021). This work is being adapted into a potential paper for British DiGRA 2024.

Chasing Tails: Studying the Furry Fandom – Confuzzled 2023

Attached to this post are the slides from the talk we gave at Confuzzled 2023 called “Chasing Tails: Studying the Furry Fandom”. It outlines a brief history of the furry fandom, discussion of the current field of furry studies, and early information about our research on the furry fandom and safe spaces.

Defining the “Furry Kingdom”: An exploration of anthropomorphised animal identities in the furry fandom.

This piece was an abstract submitted for an edited collection through Birmingham City University called “Alternativities”. This piece has been adapted a lot, moving away from the idea of a ‘Furry Kingdom’ (shelved for now), and the full chapter will be published in 2024.

Furries At Play: A Brief Examination of the Predominence of Sexual Furry Video Games

Originally published in Draganova, A. and Stevens, C. (2021) BCMCR New Thinking #1 2020/21: Short Takes on Alternativity, BCMCR: Birmingham.