[ecrea] CFP: Postcolonial Perspectives in Game Studies - Special issue of Open Library of Humanities

*Call for articles for a special issue of Open Library of Humanities: 
Postcolonial Perspectives in Game Studies*

Since the first key publications in the nineties on videogames research 
in Humanities and Social Sciences contexts, the field of Game Studies 
has become an established platform for discussion and debate on how 
games contribute to our cultural, social and aesthetic experiences. Game 
Studies has, consequently, also taken up debates on diversity and 
inclusion, time and again. In line with the revitalization of radical 
reactionary and conservative forces across the globe, the recent bigoted 
GamerGate controversy saw incisive discussions on gender and questions 
of race in games have also been at the forefront. Not much, however, has 
been said about the representation of colonialism, empire and 
neo-colonialism in videogames although some of the very earliest games 
have featured these issues, sometimes in problematic ways. As games are 
part of and perpetuate past and present global power structures in 
relation to inequalities in material wealth and symbolic representation, 
to exploitation of labor, and to hegemonic articulations of history and 
the Other, it is necessary for game studies to not only bring these 
issues to light, but also critically analyze the relationship between 
videogames and existing postcolonial power relationships. Analysing 
games as disparate as /Age of Empires/, /Far Cry 2 /and /Assassin’s 
Creed: Freedom Cry / reveal intrinsic questions about how the ludic 
relates to colonialism and how it informs the postcolonial experience.

This open-access special issue of Open Library of Humanities aims to 
bring questions of Postcolonialism to the forefront of game studies. An 
often underexplored and neglected area in the domain of studying both 
digital and analogue games, a critique of the (mis)representation of 
Orientalist attitudes, race, hybridity, notions of space and the 
fragmented postcolonial identities is urgently required. We, therefore, 
seek submissions that provide critical analysis of colonial 
representations in games and also challenge notions of colonial 
hegemonic power-structures.

Possible topics might include, but are not limited to:

   * Colonialism / Neocolonialism / Postcolonialism / Imperialism
   * The Other / Alterity
   * Decolonization
   * Hegemony
   * Orientalism
   * Postcolonial praxis
   * Global capitalism / economy
   * Self-representation / voice / agency
   * Subalternity
   * Indigenous culture
   * Religion(s) / Language(s) / Nationalism(s)
   * Thirdspace
   * Eurocentrism
   * Game studies & politics of knowledge

Research articles should be approximately 8000 words in length, 
including references and a short bibliography. Submissions should 
comprise of:

   * Abstract (250 words)
   * Full-length article (8000 words)
   * Author information (short biographical statement of 200 words)

*Deadline for abstracts: 15th December 2016*

*Notification of accepted abstracts: 16th January 2017*

*Deadline for full articles: 28th April 2017*

Submissions should be made online at: https://submit.openlibhums.org/ 
<https://olh.openlibhums.org/>in accordance with the author guidelines 
and clearly marking the entry as [“Postcolonial Game Studies” SPECIAL 
COLLECTION]. Submissions will then undergo a double-blind peer-review 
process. Authors will be notified of the outcome as soon as reports are 
received.

The special collection, edited by Dr Souvik Mukherjee, Department of 
English, Presidency University, Kolkata, India, and Emil Hammar, 
Department of Language & Culture, University of Tromsø, Norway, is to be 
published in the Open Library of Humanities (OLH) (ISSN 2056-6700). The 
OLH is an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-funded open-access journal with a 
strong emphasis on quality peer review and a prestigious academic 
steering board. Unlike some open-access publications, the OLH has no 
author-facing charges and is instead financially supported by an 
international consortium of libraries 
<https://about.openlibhums.org/libraries/supporting-institutions/>.

To learn more about the Open Library of Humanities please visit: 
https://www.openlibhums.org/

The Open Library of Humanities (OLH) is a charitable organisation 
dedicated to publishing open access scholarship with no author-facing 
article processing charges (APCs). We are funded by an international 
consortium of libraries who have joined us in our mission to make 
scholarly publishing fairer, more accessible, and rigorously preserved 
for the digital future.

The deadline for submission of abstract is 15th December 2016.

Best regards,

Dr. Souvik Mukherjee, Department of English, Presidency University, 
Kolkata, India

Emil Hammar, Department of Language & Culture, University of Tromsø, Norway

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