Poaching Politics

Paul Booth is Associate Professor at DePaul University. He is the author/editor of 10 books, including Digital Fandom 2.0 (Peter Lang 2016), Game Play (2015), and the Companion to Media Fandom and Fan Studies (2018). Amber Davisson is Associate Professor of Communication at Keene State College. She is the author of Lady Gaga and the Remaking of Celebrity Culture (2013) and the co-editor of Controversies in Digital Ethics (2016) and Theorizing Digital Rhetoric (2018). Her interdisciplinary scholarship on identity, politics, and digital technology has appeared in several journals.Aaron Hess is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Arizona State University. He is the co-author of Participatory Critical Rhetoric (2015) and the co-editor of Theorizing Digital Rhetoric (2018). His research trajectory follows two primary avenues: the active participatory elements of rhetorical advocacy and the exploration of digital contexts for rhetorical expression. Ashley Hinck is Assistant Professor at Xavier University. Her work has appeared in a number of scholarly journals. Her book, Politics for the Love of Fandom: Fan-Based Citizenship in a Digital World, will be published in Spring 2019.

• List of Illustrations – Acknowledgements – Affective Orientations and Digital Politics in a Networked Public Sphere – The Trump Card: Playing Fandom in the US 2016 Election – Fandom in Official Campaign Communication: Candidate Personae, Fan Voting Blocs, and Fan-Based Civic Arguments – Constituting the Deplorables – Memeing Our Way to Reality: Trolling as Rhetorical Orientation – Conclusion: What to Do When Politics Has Been Poached – Index.

“If you want to understand what memes, gifs, and trolls mean for the modern political consciousness, read this book. Compelling, current, and fun to read, Poaching Politics explains how publics use media to be heard, to connect, and to effect change.”—Zizi Papacharissi, Professor and Head of Communication, Professor of Political Science, University of Illinois-Chicago