“expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In A Malaysian Cosplay Community
Malaysian cosplayers, as a subset of Asian cosplayers, engage in a visually performative activity which raises the issues of ethnic and gender performativity, among other identity markers. This is further contextualised within an “everydaydefned” experience of identity, in which its formation is i...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press)
2018
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Online Access: | http://eprints.usm.my/41393/1/IJAPS-1412018_Art.-6133-163.pdf |
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author | Chan, Rachel Suet Kay |
author_facet | Chan, Rachel Suet Kay |
author_sort | Chan, Rachel Suet Kay |
collection | USM |
description | Malaysian cosplayers, as a subset of Asian cosplayers, engage in a visually
performative activity which raises the issues of ethnic and gender performativity,
among other identity markers. This is further contextualised within an “everydaydefned” experience of identity, in which its formation is influenced by non-“social
power” agents such as popular narratives (Baharuddin 1996: 18; Baharuddin and
Athi 2015: 268). In addition, cosplayers are noted to be affected by global cultural
flows. Given its relevance to studies of cosplay, I use Bourdieu’s framework of cultural
capital to outline the components which make up an established cosplayer. Using
a snowball sample, I survey several tertiary educated and employed Malaysian
cosplayers regarding the cultural capital they use to navigate the intersections of
race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. I compare the responses of my
sample to that of cosplayers from international forums, and to the content of emerging
counter-hegemonic popular narratives. My fndings suggest that cosplay can be
viewed as a form of public theatre, comprising rational and expressive elements. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:22:29Z |
format | Article |
id | usm.eprints-41393 |
institution | Universiti Sains Malaysia |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-06T15:22:29Z |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | usm.eprints-413932018-08-20T01:31:17Z http://eprints.usm.my/41393/ “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In A Malaysian Cosplay Community Chan, Rachel Suet Kay P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Malaysian cosplayers, as a subset of Asian cosplayers, engage in a visually performative activity which raises the issues of ethnic and gender performativity, among other identity markers. This is further contextualised within an “everydaydefned” experience of identity, in which its formation is influenced by non-“social power” agents such as popular narratives (Baharuddin 1996: 18; Baharuddin and Athi 2015: 268). In addition, cosplayers are noted to be affected by global cultural flows. Given its relevance to studies of cosplay, I use Bourdieu’s framework of cultural capital to outline the components which make up an established cosplayer. Using a snowball sample, I survey several tertiary educated and employed Malaysian cosplayers regarding the cultural capital they use to navigate the intersections of race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. I compare the responses of my sample to that of cosplayers from international forums, and to the content of emerging counter-hegemonic popular narratives. My fndings suggest that cosplay can be viewed as a form of public theatre, comprising rational and expressive elements. Penerbit Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Press) 2018 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.usm.my/41393/1/IJAPS-1412018_Art.-6133-163.pdf Chan, Rachel Suet Kay (2018) “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In A Malaysian Cosplay Community. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies (IJAPS), 14 (1). pp. 133-163. ISSN ISSN: 1823-6243 http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IJAPS-1412018_Art.-6133-163.pdf |
spellingShingle | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) Chan, Rachel Suet Kay “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title | “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In
A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title_full | “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In
A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title_fullStr | “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In
A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title_full_unstemmed | “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In
A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title_short | “expressive Rationality”: Habitus And Field In
A Malaysian Cosplay Community |
title_sort | expressive rationality habitus and field in a malaysian cosplay community |
topic | P1-1091 Philology. Linguistics(General) |
url | http://eprints.usm.my/41393/1/IJAPS-1412018_Art.-6133-163.pdf |
work_keys_str_mv | AT chanrachelsuetkay expressiverationalityhabitusandfieldinamalaysiancosplaycommunity |