Please feel free to read my research abstract below.
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Title: From Political Fans to Protesters: Understanding Young Political Fans’ Participation in Thailand’s 2020-2021 Anti-government Protests
This thesis explores how fan culture intersected with youth political participation during Thailand’s 2020-2021 anti-government protests. Prompted by the dissolution of the progressive Future Forward Party and the political ban on its leader, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the protests saw the emergence of a new actor in Thai political activism—the political fan. These young supporters, many of whom previously engaged with Thanathorn as if he were a cultural idol, transitioned from online fandom to real-world protest, using digital tools and popular culture references to mobilise and communicate political dissent under authoritarian constraints. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, this study draws on semi-structured interviews with self-identified political fans and content analysis of a tweet dataset to examine the motivations behind protest participation and the role of popular and fan culture in shaping political behaviour. The findings reveal how fan-based emotional investment, digital literacy, and cultural creativity foster new forms of civic engagement that challenge traditional understandings of political participation. In particular, the research highlights the influence of K-pop fandom and other entertainment-driven communities, which adapted their organising skills to sustain protest momentum and circumvent state repression. This study contributes to scholarship on political fandom, youth activism, and digital protest by offering a Southeast Asian perspective on how affective and cultural frameworks can inspire and sustain political mobilisation. It also argues that political fandom provides a compelling model for understanding how young people in repressive contexts creatively engage with politics, both online and offline.
Keywords: political fandom; hashtag activism; youth political participation; social media, Thai protests
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