Urban poachers : cosplay, playful cultures, and the appropriation of urban space

Crawford, G; Hancock, DR

Abstract

This article considers cosplayers’ use and transformation of urban space. Cosplay provides an important subcultural embodiment of contemporary popular culture, through which we can learn a great deal about contemporary forms of fandom, participatory culture and (mostly notably here) urban appropriation. This article draws on data gathered from a four-year ethnographic study, but here specifically looks at a small cosplay community that regularly meets in a park in Manchester. The article argues that a useful way of understanding cosplay is to consider the relationship between play and culture. In particular, the article sets out a consideration of how cosplayers transform social spaces through the use of process of synecdoche and asyndeton, which link together and edit out parts of the built environment – or what we term ‘urban poaching’.

Citation

Crawford, G., & Hancock, D. (2018). Urban poachers : cosplay, playful cultures, and the appropriation of urban space. Journal of Fandom Studies, 6(3), 301-318. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.3.301_1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 11, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Feb 19, 2019
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jan 8, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 19, 2020
• Journal: Journal of Fandom Studies
• Print ISSN: 2046-6692
• Electronic ISSN: 2046-6706
• Publisher: Intellect
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 301-318
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.3.301_1
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs.6.3.301_1
• Related Public URLs: https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-Journal,id=213/
• Additional Information: Projects : None