Haven

This Master Thesis deals with the phenomena of "fans" and "fandom" in mainstream television. The work is divided into three parts. In the first part, after an introduction about the research process, and the requirements and difficulties of the investigation of a television series, an overview of the phenomenon of fandom from different perspectives is given. Different approaches, both academic and media studies as well as psychopathological, are offered. Some fundamental aspects of television production techniques and their interrelations with the target group, as well as the distinction between audience and fandom, an essential feature of the work shows, will be discussed. The production of fanfiction, being this one of the main bases of research, is discussed in more detail. In the second part of the work deals in more detail with the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The series was chosen due to the broad reception, both in academic circles as well a...

The Haven, a Toronto charity for women, was established in 1878 by evangelically inspired members of the city's economic and political elite. In the early 1890s, religious impulses began to wane and were replaced, in the post-World War I period, by a professional ethos. Several principles of social casework were adopted in the 1920s. By the early 1930s, the organization was well on its way to working with a one-client population, the so-called "mentally retarded". Thus, religiously-motivated volunteers had been replaced by professionals trained in secular social work practice.