“Otaku Engagements: Subcultural Appropriation of Science and Technology”, 2006-07 ():
[homepage] Even as contemporary youth are encouraged to become familiar with information technologies (IT), the impacts of those technologies on their well-being have been the subject of increasing concern. Youth subcultures heavily engaged with IT have often been portrayed as victims of alienation, as having abandoned traditional values, and/or as being more likely to commit acts of violence. This study seeks to characterize and demystify a youth subculture of extreme/obsessive enthusiasts known as otaku who are heavy users of information technology and are focused strongly on the acquisition and trade of elite information.
Otaku culture was initially identified and defined in Japan, but is now international in scope. This dissertation, looking primarily at American otaku in the United States, examines the history of the otaku concept as it evolved in Japan and abroad, focusing especially on otaku-related discourse amongst English-language speakers and writers. In order to develop a firm sociological understanding of otaku and to make sense of the interpretive flexibility surrounding the otaku concept, a framework of analysis defining otaku is presented. Based on that framework, an ethnographic study of American otaku who are fans of Japanese animation and comics was designed and conducted. The results and conclusions of that study are presented, along with new theoretical understandings of otaku in general and their place in society.
On a larger scale, this work examines some of the information/identity strategies that are being employed by individuals in response to Postmodernity and the rapid technological changes that are a product of our information society. More specifically, it asks two major questions:
How do youth subcultures, otaku in particular, differentially engage technology and science as a means of identity/information management?
How are otaku a resistant subculture (especially as “reluctant insiders”)?
These questions are addressed within the domain of Science and Technology Studies—the field in which this dissertation is being submitted.