Feminist Pedagogies for Games: An Introduction
MAI editors illuminate the need for more feminist voices to rejuvenate the pedagogy in the popular yet male-dominated games design.
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Dearest MAI Readers,
Most of us are probably feeling fairly desolate right now. Recent political events in the United States, not to mention the ongoing horrors in the Middle East, Ukraine and elsewhere, render the future murky and make it extremely hard for hope to squeak through. But it must.
The struggle for equality, human rights, and respect is integral to MAI. We have always known that patriarchy, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and white supremacy—the forces this community stands most staunchly against—die hard and that this would never be a battle that could be won quickly. The world is dark, and it is hard to see where we go from here. But we will move on and win in the long term.
In the short term, there is this: December is nearly upon us. The Winter Solstice must always be a time of hope and renewal, whether one calls it Yule, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or something else. At the coldest time of the year, the period most bereft of colour and life, we defy the chill and hold hands against the dark. We bask in warmth and light, look to the green of spring, and immerse ourselves in love. We remember to reach out to help those suffering and those who are alone. We rejoice in community and family.
In the end, this is not about faith or religion, nor is it about party politics. It’s about our duty of care to one another and ourselves, free from conditions and ego, as on the Winter Solstice, so too on all the other days of the year. We hold hands against the dark because it is only through love and unity that we will dispel it. As we refuse to shut up and accept the patriarchal oppression which keeps materialising in and outside politics, we offer the articles in this focus issue for your consideration.
First, you will find a portfolio of contributions about teaching games design—a collection of expert voices from feminists who have worked in this male-dominated field. Commissioned by our guest editors, Rebecca Rouse, Josefin Westborg and Amy Corron Youmans, these texts illuminate how games of all sorts, so popular and instrumental when it comes to socialisation today, still cannot depart from internalised patriarchal gender norms and expectations. As much as such observations add to our concerns, we cheer our games authors for their future-orientated approach and the many proposed strategies to address and change the old-school teaching methods, to make critical interventions and raise awareness of their students and colleagues.
Similarly, we applaud other authors included in the second half of this focus issue for their courageous articulation of thoughts on film, photography, art, books, and music that centre on women’s experiences, which tend to be dismissed or treated as a lower priority by ego-driven politicians. Thus, we present you with a few mind-stimulating visual culture evaluations and confessional accounts that pertain to women’s health, ageing, abortion, sexual consent, matricentric cultures and other somewhat naturalised gender expectations that stand in the way of equality across the globe.
We wish you a wonderful holiday season filled with hope and an equally hopeful year to come. Yes, it fills us with deep sadness that white patriarchal privilege still ranks so high, suppressing and dismissing women’s needs and voices. Yet, perhaps more than ever, we recognise the need to care for and support one another and take action to raise consciousness.
Therefore, we publish authors who resist intimidation and call out those who may cause harm, intentionally or not. What you are about to read is not just a grim assessment of our global realities; it is a collection of inspiring voices that shed some light on the way forward, a path to a brighter future. We are strongest together, and we will prevail in the end.
With hope, care and best wishes,
Anna Misiak & Houman Sadri
(Falmouth, UK & Gothenburg, Sweden)
MAI editors illuminate the need for more feminist voices to rejuvenate the pedagogy in the popular yet male-dominated games design.
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When classrooms have become ideological battlegrounds, the authors devise an inclusive games design pedagogy using crafting as their method.
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Nygren explores literary and experienced worlds as ‘neuroqueer’ to show how they can be used in pedagogy of games and play.
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Exploring the tensions of acting as both subject and object of games education, the article discusses teaching from a queer perspective.
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The authors share how using larp in teaching critical studies can uncover the challenges faced in institutional academic settings.
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Ruzanka demonstrates how class application of feminist practice of care can encourage students to push boundaries in their game design.
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Discussing curriculum development of a games studies course, Jones calls for increased in-class peer learning to enhance accessibility.
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This case study illustrates how game jams and participatory teaching serve as a feminist pedagogy to support active learning and citizenship.
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Yolaç offers a practical teaching toolkit to help game design instructors implement an inclusive and transformative feminist pedagogy.
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Kiernan offers an account from her classroom to illuminate how rhetorical listening raises social awareness to benefit students’ game design.
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Alexandersson documents her personal journey as a student-turned-teacher in games education through the discovery of feminist pedagogy.
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Takings pics of her old friends, Rizzo tests Barthes’ arguments around affective photography to come to unexpected conclusions.
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Ramsey reflects on the benefits of increased media visibility of menopause in the context of the struggle for justice in women’s health.
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Inspired by reactions to the abortion scene in Audrey Diwan’s film, Kearney looks at the value of this narrative for current political debates.
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In her confessional article, Louise-Clarke asks a critical question: What kinds of narratives might best express the inner worlds of mothers?
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Inspired by the courage of Nadya, the global female punk icon from Pussy Riot, Olesiak writes an intergenerational protest poem.
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Wilson offers a confessional account on how popular culture’s representations of masculinity may contribute to the shaping of trans identity.
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Godfrey illuminates how Meek’s book urges us to consider the impact of inherently cis-het norms on representations of adolescent consent.
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Reading Pollock’s latest book, Zhao becomes an engaged witness to her dialogue with Helen Rosenau, a mid-20th-century feminist art critic.
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Navigating the radically different format of Inside Killjoy’s Kastle, Woolley commends the book’s ludicrous, artful commentary on feminism
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The team of MAI supporters and contributors is always expanding. We’re honoured to have a specialist collective of editors, whose enthusiasm & talent gave birth to MAI.
However, to turn our MAI dream into reality, we also relied on assistance from high-quality experts in web design, development and photography. Here we’d like to acknowledge their hard work and commitment to the feminist cause. Our feminist ‘thank you’ goes to:
Dots+Circles – a digital agency determined to make a difference, who’ve designed and built our MAI website. Their continuous support became a digital catalyst to our idealistic project.
Guy Martin – an award-winning and widely published British photographer who’s kindly agreed to share his images with our readers
Chandler Jernigan – a talented young American photographer whose portraits hugely enriched the visuals of MAI website
Matt Gillespie – a gifted professional British photographer who with no hesitation gave us permission to use some of his work
Julia Carbonell – an emerging Spanish photographer whose sharp outlook at contemporary women grasped our feminist attention
Ana Pedreira – a self-taught Portuguese photographer whose imagery from women protests beams with feminist aura
And other photographers whose images have been reproduced here: Cezanne Ali, Les Anderson, Mike Wilson, Annie Spratt, Cristian Newman, Peter Hershey