“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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Main Author: Chan, Rachel Suet Kay
Format: Article
Language:en
Published: 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
building Hamzah Sendut Library
collection Institutional Repository
content_provider Universiti Sains Malaysia
content_source USM Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
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.
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spelling my.usm.eprints.41393 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
http://eprints.usm.my/41393/
http://ijaps.usm.my/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/IJAPS-1412018_Art.-6133-163.pdf
url_provider http://eprints.usm.my/