Muslim Girlhood, Skam Fandom and DIY Citizenship

While fandom is a dominant girlhood trope, few accounts examine faith within the context of girls’ fandom. Addressing this gap, using a feminist poststructural analysis, I draw on interviews and participant observation to locate fan communities as a space for Muslim girls to enact citizenship. Combining youth cultural studies, girlhood studies, and fan studies, I explore how Muslim fangirls of the Norwegian teen web-drama Skam (2015-17) draw upon their desire for recognition and their creativity as cultural producers to engage in participatory storytelling which challenges popular representations of Muslim girls. This process enables the production of communities rooted in shared interests, experiences, and identities. I conclude by suggesting that fandom should be recognized for its capacity to generate new meanings of citizenship for minority youth.