[Air-L] Call for Panelists: Video Gaming, Citizenship, and Civic Engagement in the United States

[David M Silver]

(for more information, please contact the panel's organizer, Carly
Kocurek <carlykocurek at mail.utexas.edu> )

Call for Panelists: Video Gaming, Citizenship, and Civic Engagement in
the United States

DEADLINE: January 10

"Video Gaming, Citizenship, and Civic Engagement in the United States,"
panel for the American Studies Association Annual Meeting, Washington
D.C., November 5-8, 2009

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has found that 97 percent of
children and 53 percent of adults in the United States play video games.
These numbers suggest that gaming is quickly becoming ubiquitous. As
video games have become a key part of mainstream popular culture in the
United States, they have also become key texts through which notions of
national identity are developed and deployed. This panel will look at
games as sites of articulation for civic engagement, citizenship,
cultural values and identity, asking panelists to consider how
"American-ness" and "American values" are articulated through and around
video games. All disciplinary approaches are welcome.

Potential topics might include:

—America's Army and U.S. military recruiting and training as gameplay.
—Guitar Hero as it relates to American popular music
—The Sims' ambivalent capitalist ethic
—Urban planning and gaming (Sim City, Scalable City, PlastiCity, etc.)
—The transnational nature of online economies and virtual wealth in MUDs
and MMORPGs and the complexity of state intervention
—American-made video games in global culture
—Virtual and real-life crime as it relates to gaming

Other topics are encouraged, as these are included only as a
non-exclusive jumping off point.

Those interested in participating should contact Carly Kocurek at
carlykocurek at mail.utexas.edu with a brief vita and an abstract of
250-500 words by January 10. Queries are also welcome.

***

david silver
http://silverinsf.blogspot.com