Proceedings of the 1st Conference on Furry Studies
Furry Studies aims to explore and examine the creative community. This conference marks the beginning of legitimising the field as a valid site for contemporary research, and to promote global and cross-field collaboration among furry scholars and those invested in this community. It brings together a wide range of scholars and enthusiasts from art, design, cultural studies, human-computer interaction, games, history, psychology, sociology, and among other areas. In doing so, this conference is the first step to formalising a field of ‘furry studies.’
The inaugural Furry Studies conference was presented as part of the first Otterdam Furry Arts Festival, a public event that celebrated furry culture and art in Rotterdam on 18-20 October 2024.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Reuben Mount, Tom Geller, and Xavier Ho
What is Furry?
Joe Strike
On Being Furry in Furry Places
Courtney “Nuka” Plante, Stephen Reysen, Sharon Roberts, and Kathleen Gerbasi
I Bark, Therefore I Am: The creation of the fursona and its representation of identity in the furry fandom
Reuben Mount
Survival Under Authority: Identity Boundaries of Chinese Furries
Li Yiming
The Past and the Present of the Fandom in East Asia: Cases of Japan and China
Tomohiro Inokuchi, Yunfan Mao, and Midoriko Hayashi
Furry games, more-than-human perspectives, and ludic relationality
Xavier Ho
Fostering Communication and Building Support Networks through Interaction with Art, Specific to the Furry Fandom
Carrie Gonzales and Joelle Pulver
Revisiting Popular Songs through a Furry Lens
Ian Martyn
Furry Art in the Expanded Field: Creative Research Presentations by Furry Artists
Atmus, Auryn, and Theory
Feeling Otherwise: A Phenomenological Exploration of Fursona Embodiment for Queer and Trans Furries
Hazel Ali Zaman
Debating Furry’s Archive: Reorienting Historical Research of the Queerness of Fandom’s Many Performances
Brandy J. Lewis
Furry History As Media Literacy
Alexander Creighton