zine archive

What is a zine?

A zine (pronounced like magazine), is a self-published pamphlet or booklet-like printed work. Although people create zines for a variety of reasons, some of these may include a desire for creative expression or to communicate a message in a visually appealing way. Zine historians and scholars agree that the first zines originated in science fiction “geek” subcultures, and were later integral to punk and DIY subcultures. Zines are typically produced in short batches and circulated through zine distributions (“distros”) or at events such as zine fairs. These zines have all been debuted at zine release parties (pictured below).

The following zines are collaborative works produced in my Technofuturos course. Throughout the course, students are responsible for producing one collective class zine, including directing the creation of the cover, table of contents, collective bibliography as well as their individual entries. Students are encouraged to work together as a large group or smaller groups to think about how the disparate elements cohere as well as discuss emergent themes that I digest in the introduction.

More than anything, to me, zines are meant to be fun! As a pedagogical tool, zines are a public-facing way of communicating complex ideas into small, digestible, multi-media sense-bits.