Zines and Communication

Revolutionaries and romantics, Dadaists and dissidents—these are some of the self-publishing traditions that zine communities embrace and embody. Zines are printed publications characterized by idiosyncratic themes, noncommercial motives, low budgets, do-it-yourself aesthetics, and an independent spirit. They are produced by individuals or collectives of writers, editors, graphic designers, and other artists sometimes known as zinesters. Zines first emerged among sci-fi enthusiasts and later spread through the countercultural, feminist, and punk-rock movements. Zines are a form of alternative media related to, yet distinct from, similar genres such as the left-wing little magazines of the 1930s as well as the later underground press and alternative press. The term fanzine, a contraction coined in the 1940s, preceded the term zine, adopted in the 1970s, although the two words are often used interchangeably. Some consider the former a subset of the latter, signifying only publications made by fans of a particular cultural form or genre (such as science fiction, punk rock, football/soccer, nostalgic TV sitcoms, horror movies, Asian pop culture, or Super-8 filmmaking). These self-publications proliferated in tandem with cheap, accessible reproduction technologies like photocopiers and desktop computers. The term e-zines, a once-fashionable reference to “electronic magazines,” typically denotes web publications that espouse a more professionalized and commercialized ethos than printed zines do. Zines are important social, cultural, and visual documents of the periods in which they are made. These do-it-yourself (DIY) publishers established a graphic language and “zine aesthetic” that significantly influenced mainstream design. Due to the diversity of zines and their producers, people in a wide range of academic disciplines show interest in how these publications are made and used. Many scholars of communication and media studies view zine-making as an exemplar of democratic expression, inclusion, and participation as well as an important shaper of social identities and communities. Zines are popular objects of study in areas such as American studies, graphic design, linguistics, popular culture, sociology, women’s studies, youth studies, and more. Zine collections are valuable resources for archivists, librarians, and educators, as well as for researchers. While the existing canon of scholarship on zines and communication includes many materials from the United States and the United Kingdom, there are also substantial zine communities in South America (including Argentina and Brazil), continental Europe (including Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, and Switzerland), Australia, Indonesia, and elsewhere. The materials presented in this article emphasize riot grrrl, feminism, fanzines, and technology because these aspects of zine publishing have received comparatively more attention from scholars in the field of communication than have other zine genres and subjects.