[EP20] Dragon Ball: How Black and Latin American Fans Found Themselves in This Anime

Are you a Dragon Ball fan or an anime enthusiast eager to dive deeper into its cultural significance? In this panel, experts will guide you through the fascinating world of anime fandom, focusing on how Black and Latin American fans found a unique connection with Dragon Ball. This is more than just a conversation about your favorite characters—it's about understanding Dragon Ball’s powerful cultural role and its global influence on identity, community, and self-expression.

[Event Survey]
Please fill out a quick survey from the link below:
forms.gle/16Epw8KE2dypp1yG8

[Next Episode] The Educational Power of Manga and Anime
For more information and RSVP:
jfny-popculture-ep21.eventbrite.com/


Our special guest speakers are:

[Derek Padula]
Transform your knowledge! Dragon Ball Scholar Derek Padula provides fans with authoritative and insightful knowledge about the culture, history, and fandom of the world's most-recognized anime and manga. The author of 9 best-selling non-fiction books about Dragon Ball, Derek's purpose is to educate Dragon Ball fans and empower them on their mystical adventure!
thedaoofdragonball.com/about/

[Dr. Dexter Thomas]
Dexter Thomas did his PhD on Japanese hip-hop at Cornell University. At UC Riverside, his alma mater, he established the world's largest publicly-accessible collection of Japanese hip-hop music and cultural materials. He has also taught a course on the concept of 'cool' in Japanese pop culture at UCLA. As a journalist, he has produced documentaries on drugs, extremism, prisons, and videogames for HBO and VICE, made a podcast series for Princeton, and has written for WIRED and The Guardian. His work has earned him three Emmy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize (with the Los Angeles Times).
whatupdex.com/

[Dani Fernandez]
Dani Fernandez is an LA based actress, writer, and director. She has hosted for E! News, iHeartRadio, Nerdist, and Disney and can be seen in animated form, playing herself, in Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet. She has written on three Warner Brothers dramas, contributed to DC Comics, and sold a half-hour comedy pilot based on her life to HBO Max. She recently wrote and starred in a psychological thriller "In the Static" that was an official selection at LALIFF, Essence Fest, and The Micheaux Film Festival.
www.instagram.com/msdanifernandez/

[Dr. Camilo Díaz Pino]
Camilo Díaz Pino is an Associate Professor of Media and Culture at West Chester University. He has published academic work on the development of media flows across postcolonial and peripheral media landscapes, cross-cultural media circulation, transnational media fandoms, comics and manga, global animation production cultures, and the development of Latin America’s animation industries. His current book project focuses on the history of anime in Latin America, its impact in Latin American popular culture and identities, and what these dynamics have to say about broader frameworks of globalization outside the direct control of US hegemony.
www.wcupa.edu/arts-humanities/communicationStudies…