Fan activism

[2][3] A 2012 quantitative study by Kahne, Feezell, and Lee suggests that there may be a statistically significant relationship between youths' participation in interest-driven activities online and their civic engagement later on in life.

[10][11] Fans may be mobilized to support such causes in response to celebrity endorsements;[12][13] however, activists may also leverage content worlds and fan-like activities as resources to be reconfigured for political engagement, as in the cases where real-life rights groups have used imagery and tropes from Avatar (2009 film) to attract mainstream media attention in the West Bank village of Bil'in[14] and Orissa, India.

[15] Notable groups that are historically associated with fan activism include Fandom Forward (formerly the Harry Potter Alliance), Fans4Writers, Nerdfighteria and the Organization for Transformative Works.

"[3] Nevertheless, a 2012 quantitative study by Kahne, Feezell, and Lee suggests that there may be a statistically significant relationship between youths' participation in interest-driven activities online and their civic engagement later on in life.

They have received recognition from many popular figures in the Harry Potter community and have been the subject of multiple academic studies on fan activism and civic engagement among youth.

This movement, which was established in 2005 by its non-profit leader Andrew Slack, parallels Harry Potter's endeavors to combat Voldemort to the broader society's goals to challenge dominant power structures that oppress marginalized groups.

For example, following the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, the HPA assembled to raise approximately $123,000 to provide five cargo planes that supplied medical resources to the country following this momentous event.

As a form of protest against the whitewashing of non-white characters, a community of fans created the Racebending.com website to advocate the fair representation of minority groups.

[6] This movement also has a strong presence on Tumblr where users cast people of color as traditionally white characters such as Bruce Wayne, Hermione Granger, and Luke Skywalker.

[17] Hank and John Green created the Nerdfighters community in 2007 after gaining popularity from their Brotherhood 2.0 project where each brother posted a video to YouTube every other day for a year.

Unlike fan activist groups such as the Harry Potter Alliance and the Racebending movement, the Nerdfighters community does not dedicate its efforts only toward promoting change.

The commonalities that appear between Green's books and the Nerdfighters include the objectives of establishing an environment that reinforces respect for others, intellectual and philosophical beliefs, linguistic play, and the goal to make world a better place for everyone.