Teaching cosplay: A theoretical curriculum using critical pedagogy and visual culture art education

During my time as an MFA student, my cosplay-based art was often met with misunderstanding or criticism. I found that many of my peers and professors did not understand cosplay to be a form of artistic practice nor did they see it as a meaningful form of identity expression. While cosplay can be defined as the act of dressing up as a popular culture character, this definition fails to convey the criticality, identity exploration, and craft that are involved in its creation. Therefore, this thesis used critical pedagogy and visual culture art education (VCAE) to create a college-level cosplay curriculum. The intention of this curriculum is to promote students to think critically about their interaction with popular culture and fandom, to explore the construction of identity, and to use cosplay as a form of artistic practice. I developed curriculum documents consisting of a class syllabus and four project documents using theories of cosplay identity, critical pedagogy, and VCAE. I then present these documents and justify their content and classroom practice using critical pedagogy and VCAE. The results indicate that cosplay, when taught in a critical manner, can foster student engagement in identity construction and critical thinking. As the curriculum is theoretical, further research is necessary to determine the curriculum’s effectiveness and practicality.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.A.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Art Education

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Dyer, Connor

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hetrick, Laura

• Cosplay
• art education
• critical pedagogy
• visual culture art education
• curriculum
• fandom

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Connor Dyer

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110418

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110418