The Department of Drama and Speech Communication, along with campus partners, presents this distinguished lecture event featuring Professor Kishonna Gray.
Intricately linked to an examination of the visual within contemporary gaming culture is the need to understand racialization, particularly because racial minorities (as gamers, developers, and characters) contemporarily and historically have faced exploitation, isolation, and othering. The continual omission and racialized distortion of marginalized groups contributes greatly to the shock of hegemonic gaming culture, typically sheltered by structural privilege, when they encounter examples of Blackness that are not discursively bound by stereotypical misrepresentations. These acts of Black communicative resistance will also be explored, examining their ability to infiltrate the hegemonic culture of gaming and lead to sustained change.
Kishonna
L.
Gray
(Ph.D.,
Arizona
State
University)
is
the
Director
of
the
Critical
Gaming
Lab
at
Eastern
Kentucky
University
as
well
as
faculty
in
the
School
of
Justice
Studies,
African/African-American
Studies,
Women
&
Gender
Studies. Her
work
broadly
intersects
identity
and
new
media
although
she
has
a
particular
focus
on
gaming. Her
most
recent
book,
Race,
Gender,
&
Deviance
in
Xbox
Live
(Routledge,
2014),
provides
a
much-needed
theoretical
framework
for
examining
deviant
behavior
and
deviant
bodies
within
that
virtual
gaming
community. In
additional
to
academic
outlets,
her
work
has
been
featured
in
the
LA
Times,
New
York
Times,
Paste
Magazine,
Engadget,
The
Guardian,
BET,
and
Blavity. She’s
a
featured
blogger
and
podcaster
with
“Not
Your
Mama’s
Gamer”
and actively
blogs
on
her
own
websites
at
kishonnagray.com
and
lachezbippy.kinja.com. Journey
with
her
on
Twitter
@DrGrayThaPhx
and
the
Critical
Gaming
Lab
@CriticalGameLab.
A reception will follow the lecture.
Co-sponsors
for
this
lecture:
Women's
Studies
| Games
Institute
| Equity
Office