[Air-L] CFP // 4S Open Panel Due FRIDAY // Decolonial, Colonial, and Indigenous Imaginaries in Games of Sea, Sky, and Land

[Nicole W]

Hello all!


Abstracts of 250 words are due FRIDAY, May 26 for our 4S Open Panel:
Decolonial, Colonial, and Indigenous Imaginaries in Games of Sea, Sky, and
Land!

Here’s the CFP as posted on the 4S site:


While game studies has begun to acknowledge postcolonial and decolonial
theory, the sociotechnical basis of games is rooted in colonial and
imperial imaginaries. Trammell (2022) argues that game studies' fundamental
theories of play are likewise racist and colonial. In-game conceptions of
sea (kai), sky (lani), and land (ʻāina) seem subject to the same doctrine
of discovery as reality; Nintendo's Animal Crossing: New Horizons (2020) is
just one example of terra nullius exhibited in a cute resource management
game. Sea, sky, and land are simply there to be occupied, mined, developed,
and abandoned once the game - or the player - is done. These colonial
concepts are embedded in the hegemony of play (Fron et al., 2007). As
scholars from settler colonial societies that parallel this exploitation
and the oppression of Hawaiian peoples, we seek to create a space where
scholars can expand conversations about how the natural environment is
imagined, represented, and envisioned in games, who and what can 'take
space' in games, and what that means in our realities and to our futures.
We encourage papers that investigate: Decolonial, colonial, and Indigenous
sociotechnical imaginaries in games; their representation of and/or
relationship with sea, sky, and land; how games imagine a better
relationship with the natural world; implications of colonization in games;
experiencing empathy toward nature and its gifts in games; effects of
limitless natural resources and 'seasonless' farming. Other perspectives on
postcolonialism, decolonialism, colonialism, imperialism, games, or the
conference theme are also welcome.


4S will be happening in Honolulu, HI, USA, this November 8-11, 2023. This
is a hybrid conference with the opportunity to present either in-person or
online remotely.

For more information/questions you can contact Nicole Winchester (
nicole.winchester at yorku.ca), Shelbey Walker (skwalker at yorku.ca), Nyle Sky
Kauweloa (nsk at hawaii.edu), or Karanbir Jallo (jallo at yorku.ca). You can find
the link to the panel <https://4sonline.org/news_manager.php?page=31507>
here, and the link to the submission site
<https://members.4sonline.org/members/proposals/propselect.php?orgcode=4S&prid=1293777>
here.

Please pass this on to anyone who might be interested!