Anti-frontiers in zineing: zines as process & the politics of refusal

The implementation of zines and zine-making is becoming increasingly popular in academic spaces from teaching to research. While this uptake has been widely celebrated, in this article I reflect on some of the risks associated with the mainstreaming of zine culture. In particular the paper explores the risks associated with zines becoming reduced to mere “outputs” within the context of an intensifying neoliberal university landscape. In this context there is a danger that future work will focus on the product of the zine, neglecting to consider the values of addressing the more processual dimensions of zines. Reflecting on my own zine-practice as geographer, I call for a shift to the focus on zineing as process and politics of refusal that explicitly challenges neoliberal, capitalist agendas.