‘Sniffin’ Glue and Ripped & Torn: Two cases studies as to why fanzines matter

Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing Seminar: ‘Sniffin’ Glue and Ripped & Torn: Two cases studies as to why fanzines matter’, Professor Matthew Worley (History)

This online research seminar will focus on Sniffin’ Glue and Ripped & Torn, two of the most influential fanzines to emerge through British punk in 1976-77. The objective is to use case studies to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of fanzines as a cultural form, exploring the motivation that inspired their creation and their means of production. Attention will be given to the content of the fanzines, revealing how they provided a space for engagement, a mechanism for agency, and a medium to construct cultural meaning. From this, the benefit to the historian should be clear as semi-private/semi-public ideas in the process of becoming offer us insight into cultural histories formulating ‘from below’.

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