Race and Indigeneity in Video Games

Undergraduate / Graduate

This class will read key texts in critical video game studies to consider how race, diaspora, and Indigeneity shape the code and the machines that structure the games we play. In addition to critical readings by scholars in Indigenous studies, Black feminism, settler colonial studies, and video game studies including Joanne Barker, Christine Sharpe, and Chris Patterson, we may also read creative works by Gabrielle Zevin and Elissa Washuta among others to consider how narratives about society and identity transform in relation to video games. Games and/or franchises to be discussed will include Norco, Umurangi Generation, Assassin's Creed, Undertale, and Spiritfarer among others