For more than twenty years, fans have gathered annually in Castle Stahleck, Bacharach, Germany, to play Middle-earth: The Collectible Card Game, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary mythology. I describe my experience attending this gathering and examine the game’s significance in my life, particularly in relation to my identity as a Third Culture Kid, a U.S. citizen having grown up in Senegal. The concept of home can be difficult and complex for TCKs, who often struggle to answer the question “where are you from?” In this essay, I analyze how fandom, fanship, and nostalgia have intersected with my TCK identity to provide a non-place-based home in Middle-earth. The game has accompanied me throughout life, helping me carry a sense of home with me, regardless of geographical location.
Lured Home, and Back Again: How Fanship, Fandom, and Nostalgia Led a Third Culture Kid to Middle-earth
Justin B. Hopkins is Senior Teaching Professor of English, Assistant Director of the Writing Center, and the Faculty Don of Ware House at Franklin & Marshall College. His publications include Autoethnography in Undergraduate Writing Courses (Peter Lang); autoethnographies in Qualitative Inquiry, Qualitative Report, and The American Journal of Play; multiple articles in Praxis: A Writing Center Journal; and dozens of reviews of theatrical productions for Shakespeare Bulletin, Cahiers Élisabéthains, and other scholarly periodicals. Justin lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his wife Hayley, their son Hal, and a cat, Penny Lane.
Justin B. Hopkins; Lured Home, and Back Again: How Fanship, Fandom, and Nostalgia Led a Third Culture Kid to Middle-earth. Journal of Autoethnography 1 April 2024; 5 (2): 160–180. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/joae.2024.5.2.160
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