Date Presented 04/22/2023
This grounded theory study examined cosplay as a meaningful co-occupation. The results indicated that participation in cosplay contributed to identity development for participants. This poster will communicate commonalities in the experience and meaning of cosplay and proposes cosplay as a therapeutic occupation with potential for community-based intervention.
Primary Author and Speaker: Kyle E. Karen
Additional Authors and Speakers: Jennifer K. Whittaker
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to discover the process and meaning of cosplay as a leisure co-occupation. Occupations affording social interaction, reflexive self-consciousness, and agency can facilitate identity construction (Christiansen, 1999). Cosplay appears to offer participants such opportunities (Lamerichs, 2018) but has yet to undergo formal study in occupational therapy. The primary research question was ‘How does the self-selected, organically occurring co-occupation of cosplay, relate to identity development and meet the need for participation and inclusion in a meaningful occupation’?
METHOD: This grounded research study received IRB approval from Texas Woman’s University. Four participants were recruited via snowball sampling, gave their informed consent, and entered the study to participate in one hour-long interview and one hour-long costume display via Zoom. Interview transcripts and costume images were analyzed in NVivo using a grounded theory approach.
RESULTS: Primary codes emergent codes included: making, aesthetic emotional response, elaborative behavior, community, identity, character selection, and inclusivity/lack of inclusivity. The critical metaphor (Charmaz, 2014) of ‘crossing-over’ emerged from the data to describe something from the cosplay world becoming part of the everyday world. For example, a desirable trait associated with the fictional character the cosplayer portrays becomes part of the cosplayer’s behavioral repertoire in everyday life. Each of the participants demonstrated a ‘crossing over’ between the realms of fiction and reality.
CONCLUSION: The process of ‘crossing over’ became the crux of a schematic representation of the process of cosplay as identity development. ‘Making’ and ‘elaborative behavior’ were found to be related to agency, ‘character selection’ related to reflexive self-consciousness, and belonging to a cosplay ‘community’ provided social interaction. The experience of ‘inclusivity’ either supported or was a barrier to community belonging.
IMPACT: Cosplay hold potentials as a meaningful occupation with therapeutic value in community programming to increase wellbeing.
References
Christiansen, C. (1999). Defining lives: Occupation as identity: An essay on competence, coherence, and the creation of meaning. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 53(6), 547–558. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.53.6.547
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (Introducing qualitative methods series). SAGE Publications.
Lamerichs, N. (2018). Productive fandom: Intermediality and affective reception in fan cultures. Amsterdam University Press.
