[Air-L] Lecture and Panel: Asian/American Game Studies

[Gerald Voorhees]

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please join us for two upcoming events (online or in-person) hosted at the
University of Waterloo Games Institute
<https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/>:

1. On Tuesday, 14 November from 11AM-12PM (EST/UTC-4): Skins Deep: Race,
Gender, and Nationality in eSports
<https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/events/skins-deep-race-gender-and-nationality-esports>,
a lecture by Tara Fickle (Northwestern University). Register for free
using this
Eventbrite link
<https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/guest-lecture-skins-deep-race-gender-and-nationality-in-esports-tickets-745328988067?aff=oddtdtcreator>
.

Since the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, Asia has remained the
center of the manufacturing of video game hardware (China and Southeast
Asia), the center of game innovation and the birthplace of most game genres
(Japan), and the largest reliable resource of consumers (nearly half of
game players reside in Asia). Dr. Fickle asks how video games, in being
inextricably tethered to Asia, continue to produce new racializations of
Asians around the globe, and the varied impacts games have had on Asian
diasporas in North America through forms of digitization, “gamic” worlds,
and play itself. The talk will explore a range of relevant contemporary
topics in Asian/American gaming, such as esports, visual novels, racial
representations, gender, labor and industry culture.

2. On Monday, 20 November from 11AM-12:30PM (EST/UTC-4): Emerging Voices in
Asian/American Game Studies
<https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/events/emerging-voices-asian-american-game-studies>,
featuring Matthew Howard (Loyola University), Sarah Ganzon (Simon Fraser
University), and Huan He (Vanderbilt University). Register for free using this
Eventbrite link
<https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/panel-emerging-voices-in-asianamerican-game-studies-tickets-750731808047?aff=oddtdtcreator>
.

This panel highlights emerging scholars in Asian/American games studies.
Panelists will present recent and/or ongoing work, sharing a glimpse of the
emerging research questions animating the field. Topics include He’s
analysis of NPC discourse, particularly the phenomena of NPC streaming, as
an Asiatic form, Ganzon’s examination of Filipino political activism in
digital games that extend public and community spaces, and Howard’s inquiry
on 'region locking' in online games as racial practices.