[Commlist] Call for Papers: Race in Games and Game Studies Online Conference

Race is a fundamental dimension of games implicating who is represented 
in games, how the labour of making games is divided, and who is welcomed 
to play and on what terms. As a field, game studies has only begun the 
work of understanding these matters because race also shapes the study 
of games. Game studies is builton colonial logics and animated by white 
supremacy.  The major problematics of the field (ludus v narrative, game 
v player, pro-social v antisocial) are premised in Western epistemic 
traditions. And games researchers largely focus on the hegemony of play, 
the games and gaming practices of the presumed audience of white male 
players imagined by the mainstream games industry (Fron, Fullerton, 
Moire, and Pearce 2007).


Race in Games and Game Studieswill be a two day conference dedicated to 
exploring how race impacts games and game studies. The conference will 
be hosted online December 7-8, 2023 and registration is free. We will 
feature conventional paper panels as well as plenary discussion panels 
focused on future directions for research at the intersections of games 
and race.


In addition to advancing the state of games research concerning how 
representations, industry practices, and community norms contribute to 
the shifting dynamics of racial privilege and marginalization, we hope 
to identify the gaps and trends in recent research in this area. By 
outlining what is being done and what has yet to be examined closely, we 
hope to suggest new directions and possibilities for this work to 
explore and to highlight ways that researchers in the humanities, social 
sciences, and fine arts might work together to close gaps in the field.


We as eager to learn about joy and justice as we are to gain new insight 
into ongoing/emerging harms, and encourage participation from game 
scholars and/or developers from all careers stages who are working on 
topics at the intersection of race and games, such as:


  *

    Representations of race and/or racialized identities in games

  *

    Experiences of racial minorities in the games industry and/or gaming
    communities/cultures

  *

    Anti-racist and/or decolonial activism in games, game cultures, game
    studies, games education,  and/or in the games industry

  *

    Indigenous, Black, Latine, and/or Asian/Asian-Americangames and/or
    game studies

  *

    Racism in games, games education, game development and/or in spaces
    of play

  *

    Black and/or Indigenous futurism in games

  *

    Race as a facet of intersectional identity in games and/or gaming

  *

    Racialized ontologies of games and/or play

  *

    White supremacy and/or coloniality in games and/or gaming


Interested games scholars and makers are encouraged to submit abstracts 
for 15-20-minute-long presentations (300 words + 5 keywords) and a short 
bio note (100-150 words) to 
https://raceandgamesconf.uwaterloo.ca/openconf.php 
<https://raceandgamesconf.uwaterloo.ca/openconf.php>by September 15, 
2023. Questions can be addressed to the organizers at 
(race.game.studies /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(race.game.studies /at/ gmail.com)>.


The Race in Games and Game Studies conference is enabled in part by the 
support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 
(SSHRC).


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