Deadline: December 23, 2022
Contact: Brandon Galm
Email: brandonjgalm@gmail.com

Panel proposed at the 2023 ASLE + AESS Conference: “Reclaiming the Commons”

July 9-12, 2023 in Portland, Oregon

This panel seeks to continue shaping our understanding of the role that games, gaming, or play have in the environmental humanities. Papers specifically tied to the conference theme of “Reclaiming the Commons” will be preferenced over those speaking to the environmental humanities more broadly. All aspects of games and play–not just video or board games–will be considered, but papers should focus their primary attention to one or two specific games, so that audience members will have a chance to play them during the session.

Following similar panels from ASLE’s 2017 and 2019 Conferences, this panel will take an alternative format broken down into the following schedule: 10-minute (maximum) presentations for each panelist; a brief, whole-session Q&A; interactive break-out sessions in which audience members will have an opportunity to play the games being discussed by the panelists.

Paper topics might address, but are not limited to, the following questions:

What is the role of gaming in engaging with the environment/commons?
How do games represent the environment/commons?
How do games allow us to better understand our relationship to the environment/commons?
How does a specific game theorize the environment/commons?
How do the materialisms of games (either constructed or digital) complicate the environment/commons?
Can the interactive/communal nature of games help move us toward collective action in regards to the environment/commons?

Proposals of 300 words or less must be received by December 23, 2022 to be considered for the panel. Please include a brief bio with proposals. All submission materials and/or questions can be directed to brandonjgalm@gmail.com or brandon.galm@cloud.edu.

Posted on September 13, 2022