AUTHENTICITY FROM CARTOONS: US JAPANAESE ANIMATION FANDOM AS AN AGENCY OF ...

234 Pages·2008·1.5 MB·English

AUTHENTICITY FROM CARTOONS: U. S. JAPANAESE ANIMATION FANDOM AS AN
AGENCY OF INFORMAL CULTURAL EDUCATION
by
BRENT M. ALLISON
(Under the Direction of Judith Preissle)
ABSTRACT
This ethnography explores how North American fans of Japanese animation or anime are
engaging in pedagogical practices. Anime increasingly attracts many North American fans that
have had little or no previous direct exposure to Japanese culture. Many fans watch and discuss
anime with other fans within an interactive subculture called anime fandom. U.S. anime fandom
can be interpreted as a site of informal cultural education wherein participants teach and learn
about anime and Japanese culture as a means of making sense of them.
Little research has been done on anime fandom as an agency of pedagogy. Therefore, this
study focuses on how North American fans of anime learn to become anime fans, and what they
learn in this process. It also addresses how fans of anime create, sustain, and change meanings
associated with anime and Japan within anime fandom. Finally, it explores how anime fans
negotiate traditional sites of sociocultural consensus and conflict found in U.S. social hierarchies.
The research uses an ethnography of one anime club, an ethnographic study of a second club,
and interviews of participants at anime fan conventions to address these issues. The methods
involved are primarily interviews and participant observation.
The findings illustrate that most anime fans are attracted to anime because they admire
visuals used in anime, they favor anime series with narrative arcs stretching across several
episodes, and they form attachments to anime characters that develop and change. Fans often
contrasted this appeal to North American animation which they criticized as mostly episodic,
unsophisticated, and visually less appealing than anime. Acquiring a vocabulary to use in
discussing anime and anime fandom was found to be a critical component of fandom pedagogy.
While many fans were careful to distinguish between anime and Japanese culture, just as many
fans used Japanese culture to explain situations in anime that made them uncomfortable. Anime
fandom itself appeared to fans to be an authentic subcultural location from which they could
legitimate their judgments about North American media, anime, and Japanese culture. The study
discusses implications that anime fandom has for educators and researchers of education and
subcultures.
INDEX WORDS: Informal education, subculture, anime, Japanese popular culture, fandom,
race, media, informal pedagogy, youth culture, gender, identity, agency,
hybridity
AUTHENTICITY FROM CARTOONS: U. S. JAPANAESE ANIMATION FANDOM AS AN
AGENCY OF INFORMAL CULTURAL EDUCATION

by

BRENT M. ALLISON

B. A. Clemson University, 1997
B. S. Clemson University, 1998
M.Ed. Clemson University, 2000

A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2008
© 2008
Brent M. Allison
All Rights Reserved
AUTHENTICITY FROM CARTOONS: U. S. JAPANAESE ANIMATION FANDOM AS AN
AGENCY OF INFORMAL CULTURAL EDUCATION

by

BRENT M. ALLISON

Major Professor: Judith Preissle
Committee: Diane Brook-Napier
Kathleen deMarrais
Jay Hamilton
David Smilde

Electronic Version Approved:

Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
December 2008
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No research project of this length could be accomplished by a lone individual’s efforts. If
Newton stood on the shoulders of giants, then I was uplifted by the hands of many; so many that
the deficits of space and memory forbid me from naming all those responsible. I ask forgiveness
in advance from those who should be included here.
Judith Preissle directly contributed the most any one single individual could to helping
me realize the dissertation’s completion. The hours of her reading, editing, giving advice, and
taking the occasional emergency late night phone call will not be forgotten. Jude has always been
in my corner through the years of this project, and she receives my supreme gratitude.
To my immediate family, including my parents Morgan and Jan Allison, sister Joy
Tinney, brother-in-law Michael, and niece and nephew Kate and Luke, thank you for your
patience through the years of my program. I’m sure it wasn’t easy trying to explain my progress
to family and friends who are unfamiliar with graduate school, or for those who are familiar,
what all an ethnography entails. Kate and Luke have never known me outside of my being a
doctoral student. When you all offered support and encouragement through this time, it was
comforting.
To the rest of my committee, your contributions were extraordinarily helpful. Diane
Brook-Napier helped me to conceive of my project in global terms, which eventually lead me to
consider hybridity as a conceptual tool. Even though Dwight Brooks is no longer on my
committee due to his leaving for Mississippi, he was able to give me valuable insights on the
connections between race, gender, and media while he served. Though Kathleen deMarrais
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joined the committee later, her willingness to do so amidst the deep responsibilities of Associate
Dean is humbling. Our collaborative work in the past informed my critical lens in this piece. Jay
Hamilton’s influence specifically directed my attention towards a critical evaluation of mass
media institutions, which aided an etic perspective towards the research. David Smilde directly
contributed his insights on social interaction and networks. Moreover, his indirect contribution of
the Georgia Workshop on Power, Culture, and History was far reaching. Exposing me and other
students to other sociologists and their work over the years impacted my understanding of social
research beyond what the traditional solitary life of a doctoral candidate could offer. To all of
you, thank you.
This dissertation also marks another contribution to the nascent but growing field of
anime and manga studies. I want to thank my colleagues on the Anime and Manga Research
Circle mailing list who have also made efforts to develop this scholastic frontier and helped me
along the way. To Christopher Bolton, Kukhee Choo, Laurie Cubbison, Patrick Drazen, Larry
Eng, Wendy Goldberg, Pamela Gossin, Marc Hairston, Mikhail Kulikov, Andrew McKevitt,
Timothy Perper, Gilles Poitras, and Brian Ruh, you all have been great people to work with
throughout this project. The same goes for non-AMRC anime and manga colleagues Natsuki
Fukunaga Anderson, Christina Braid, Akihiko Ieshima, Jeremy Ross, and Shige “CJ” Suzuki.
This journey took a great detour through anime conventions where I was able to not only
collect data, but also present this project to a wider audience beyond the academy. I was to
specifically thank those who offered me guest status at their conventions, which sometimes
involved considerable expense on their part. These include Jason Bailey of Chibi-Pa, Lucas
Leverett of Middle Tennessee Anime Convention, Frenchy Lunning of Mechademia (with whom
I’ve collaborated with on research), and Jessica Merriman of Momocon.
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Then there are my friends in and outside of anime fandom who in some way made
completing this dissertation worthwhile through your encouragement and support. Rachel Aaron,
Travis Bach, Rebecca Ballard, David Beach, Michael Beach, Amanda Bouffier, Alex Cabe,
Germaine Cahoon, Connie Cheng, Alicia Coleman, Kiyomi Deal, Emily Emerson, Alex English,
Julie Fooshee, John Gorzynski, Brian Hardison, Jonathan Hertzog, Mattie Hooper, Rachelle
Janik, Sarah Jeffe, Josh Kagan, Jaymin Kessler, Erin Lindsey, John Miller, Jon Moore, Kainien
Morel, Katie Naylor, Kristie Naylor, Kellen Neal, Emily Ogilve, Sarah Parker, Joey Piergrossi,
Michelle Poust, Deepa Raju, Laura Reiss, Rebecca Rohdenburg, Saxony Scott, Eddy Williams,
Tyler Windham, Glen Zaitsev, and yes, you too Mike Thompson, you all made watching anime
and reading manga that much more rewarding by doing those things with me. Thanks also go to
UGA professors and other graduate school colleagues who served as points of inspiration,
including Derrick Alridge, Kate Babka, Ron Butchart, Monica Knight, Jerome Morris, Kevin
Williams, Tommy Williford, and Dwayne Wright. A special mention goes to Joycelyn Wilson,
who encouraged me to embrace my love of anime fandom as a dissertation topic in the first
place.
Finally, I want to thank my partner and best friend through it all, Cathy Emineth, from
the bottom of my heart. You supported me, you helped me, and you waited for me through all of
the struggles. I love you beyond the limits of human vocabulary, White Mage. We did it!

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………iv
CHAPTER
1 A STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM OF JAPANESE ANIMATION
FANDOM PEDAGOGY…….............................................................................…1
Definition of Anime and a Brief History….........................................................…2
Anime and the U.S. Market.....................................................................................5
The Establishment of U.S. Anime Fandom.............................................................7
Anime Fandom Meets the Internet........................................................................11
Anime Fandom’s Relevance to Social Foundations of Education.........................12
Research Problem..................................................................................................17
Research Questions................................................................................................18
Description of the Participants and Settings..........................................................21
Foreshadowed Problems........................................................................................22
Subjectivities Statement.........................................................................................24
Dissertation Format................................................................................................29
2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE RELEVANT TO ANIME FANDOM
PEDAGOGY..........................................................................................................31
Nationalism, Race, and Media...............................................................................34
Nationalism............................................................................................................35
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Race........................................................................................................................37
Historical Racial Subjugation in National Media..................................................38
Orientalism, Japan, and Whiteness........................................................................41
The Specter of Hybridity.......................................................................................46
A Definition of Hybridity......................................................................................47
Comparative Education and Hybridity..................................................................50
Informal Education and Anime Fandom...............................................................53
Literature on General Fandom and Anime Fandom..............................................60
Conclusion.............................................................................................................67
3 STUDYING ANIME FANDOM: A RESEARCH DESIGN......................................69
Research Design.....................................................................................................70
Methods of Data Collection...................................................................................73
Data Analysis and Management............................................................................86
Strengths and Weaknesses.....................................................................................89
4 BECOMING AND BEING ANIME FANS AND A FANDOM................................91
Anime Fans and Their Venues...............................................................................91
Selected Anime Club Members.............................................................................95
Anime Conventions...............................................................................................98
Learning to be Anime Fans..................................................................................104
Meanings Made with Anime and Japan in Anime Fandom.................................119
Gender and Sexuality in Anime Fandom.............................................................130
Conclusion...........................................................................................................137
5 THE MEANINGS OF ANIME FANDOM…….…………….…………………….139
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