Bangtan Scholars and the Ethics of Care

Known for its visibility across social media platforms, the ARMY fandom has created fan-led groups dedicated to everything from streaming parties and charting to language learning and research. Despite the diversity of ARMY groups, many share the common threads of drawing inspiration from BTS and focusing on helping others, especially others within ARMY. This chapter aims to examine the origin, development, and guiding principles of one fan group “for current and aspiring scholars of BTS to connect, inspire & grow together,” Bangtan Scholars. Bangtan Scholars cofounder Courtney Lazore’s “Bangtan Scholars and the Ethics of Care” examines the principles that guide the creation and activity of many ARMY-initiated groups and, in particular, Bangtan Scholars, a collective dedicated to connecting and supporting the wide range of ARMY researchers.