Drawing anime as a cross-cultural therapy & rebellion for young girls in foster care

Abstract

Adolescent girls in the foster care system are sometimes misunderstood, mistreated and negatively labelled. Along with changes in governmental social policies, the female foster demographic is at higher risk of becoming involved in the judicial system. Programs such as The Holistic Arts Based Program (HAP) aim to provide an environment that nurtures creativity and teaches resilience to young foster children/adolescents who have learning disabilities and have faced loss, neglect and trauma. This study focuses on a particular group of adolescent girls from the foster care system who attended HAP for 24 weeks to seek insight into their use of anime as a therapeutic process. Through textual analysis and psychoanalysis, I trace the difference between the anime inspired art produced in past HAP sessions compared to the art from the anime activity. Anime allows for a therapeutic revision of their past and engages an active identification process. The girls consciously use anime to oppose authority figures and structures that rejected them. The cross-cultural use of anime also serves as a vessel for defiance, creativity and therapy.