Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

“Zines are non-commercial, non-professional, small-circulation magazines which their creators produce, publish and distribute by themselves.” (Duncombe, 1997, pp. 10–11). They are part of the DIY (Do It Yourself) movement and the creators used to make it with pens, photocopies, computers… the dirty and untidy aesthetic was part of this kind of publication. Nowadays, new technologies allow brilliant pieces of self-publishing to be produced. But regardless of the historical moment of the zine, feminist and queer movements have worked in the reconstruction of the symbolic around the representation of different images, narratives, and identities. Also, one of the most interesting things about these publications is their authorship. Far from traditional concepts of authorship, zines are anti-copyright, which means anyone can reproduce the complete publication or part of it simply citing the source, though in most cases, they are anonymous or produced under a pseudonym. Zines could be considered as a part of a subculture and the feeling of community is very present. As a Gunnarson Payne ( 2009) point out “attention needs to be paid to the constitution of feminist identities, furthering particularly not only how alliances and coalitions are made but also the role feminist media production plays in the constitutions of collective feminist identities”. Intermedial analyses will be necessary, not only because inside a zine could find poetry, literature, collages, photography, illustration, but because the whole zine can be seen as a complete artifact with all the elements are in consonance.