ABSTRACT
Can one be a fan of Ibiza? This basic question triggers yet two more fundamental questions: What is a fan? And, indeed, what is Ibiza? While I will turn to definitions of fandom below, it is worth noting that to many of its visitors Ibiza holds great emotional significance reflected in regular visits, the consumption of a great number of mediated texts surrounding the island, and the formation of social ties and communities—all hallmarks of frequently studied fan cultures surrounding musicians, sports teams and popular TV shows. However, this seems to lead us to the wider question of whether one can be a fan of a place as much of a text. The premise of this question is misleading. Rather than “place” referring to a material, naturally occurring and unmediated reality while texts are symbolic and virtual, both texts and places are socially constructed through symbols, discourses and representations. In this sense places, and in particular places of pleasure and affect, are also always texts.
