CosmoCult Card Game: A Methodological Tool to Understand the Hybrid and Peripheral Cultural Consumption of Young People

Abstract

This article discusses the authors’ use of a specially designed card game as part of the survey ‘Youth Cosmopolitanisms in Brazil’, a constituent part of the international project ‘Cultures Juveniles à l’ère de la globalization’, developed in France. As part of the challenges encountered in the process of applying this project in a hybrid and post-colonial context, such as that of Brazil, we experienced different manifestations of what Angela Prysthon ( 2002) has called ‘peripheral cosmopolitanism’. We propose to present the experiences that resulted as contributory material for research on the cultural consumption of young people in such contexts, and to discuss the value of this research tool as a way to reach and understand spontaneous cultural references, within the subjects’ own conceptions, without the bias that a Western-centered perspective might introduce. Concerning the card game as a research tool, it seems that only recently, and still modestly, have games been thought of in a broader sense of learning and research ( Girard, Ecalle & Magnan, 2012; Calvillo Gámez et al., 2011). This moves us to consider the potential that it has for our and others’ research that seeks a methodological tool that reduces cultural biases and borders. Among the examples from the 12- to 24-year-old research subjects, the narratives display their relationships with global and local elements, such as the use of a Brazilian song, ‘Atoladinha’, or Harry Potter characters, used to solve situations proposed in the game.