gerald.voorhees@uwaterloo.ca
(519) 888-4567 x 48691
Location: ML 257A
Gerald Voorhees earned a Ph.D. from The University of Iowa (2008) and holds a B.S. in Speech Communication from the University of Texas at Austin (2002), where he was a Senior Fellow in the Honors Program of the College of Communication.
His research focuses on games and new media as sites for the construction and contestation of identity and culture. He is also interested in public discourse pertaining to games and new media, as well as rhetorics of race and ethnicity in mediated public discourse. Gerald is co-editor of the Approaches to Digital Game Studies book series (Bloomsbury, 2012 - ) and managing editor of the trilogy Feminism in Play (Palgrave-MacMillan 2018), Masculinities in Play (Palgrave-MacMillan 2018), and Queerness in Play (Palgrave-MacMillan 2018). He was President of the Canadian Game Studies Association (2021-2023), a former member of the Executive Board of the Digital Games Research Association (2013-2014), and a former co-chair of the Game Studies area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Nation Conference (2009-2012). Prior to joining the University of Waterloo in Fall, 2013 Gerald taught at Oregon State University and created the Game and Interactive Media Design track for the Communication B.A. at High Point University in North Carolina, USA. He has taught theory, criticism and practice classes in communication studies, media studies, rhetorical studies, and game studies.
Selected publications
Books
G Voorhees, J. Call, B. Brey, and M. Wysocki, Eds. 2026. Epistemic Genres: New Formations of Play. Bloomsbury.
J. Call, B. Brey, G. Voorhees, and M. Wysocki, Eds. 2026. Emerging Genres: New Formations of Games. Bloomsbury
D. Harley and G. Voorhees. 2024. ADE for Games: Approaches to Anti-Racism, Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Games Research and Creation. Play Story Press.
N. Taylor and G. Voorhees. 2018. Masculinities in Play. Palgrave McMillan.
K. Gray, G. Voorhees, and E. Vossen. 2018. Feminisms in Play. Palgrave McMillan.
G. Voorhees, J. Call and K. Whitlock. 2012. Dungeons, Dragons and Digital Denizens: Digital Role-playing Games. Continuum International Publishing.
G. Voorhees, J. Call and K. Whitlock. 2012. Guns, Grenades and Grunts: First Person-Shooter Games. Continuum International Publishing.
Articles
S. Klein and G. Voorhees. 2024. “It’s All Fun and Games ‘til Somebody Loses an I: Ethnomethods of Bleed in Table Top Roleplaying.” Analog Game Studies 11(3): https://analoggamestudies.org/2024/12/its-all-fun-and-games-till-somebody-loses-an-i-ethnomethods-of-bleed-for-table-top-role-play/
K. Nguyen and G. Voorhees. 2024. “From Atalanta to Angelina: Smith & Wesson Feminism, White Heteropatriarchy, and Intimate Partner Violence.” Communication, Culture and Critique 17(4): 345–351.
G. Voorhees. 2019. “Genre Trouble in Game Studies: Ludology, Agonism, and Social Action.” Kinephanos, Special Issue May 2019. https://www.kinephanos.ca/2019/genre-troubles-in-game-studies-ludology-agonism-and-social-action/
G. Voorhees. “Constructions of Fatherhood in The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite.” Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology 9. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/items/b33ada53-9ca9-455b-b63c-493df36420f7
G. Voorhees. 2009. “I Play therefore I Am: Sid Meier’s Civilization, Turn Based Strategy Games and the Cogito.” Games and Culture 4 (3): 254-275.
G. Voorhees. 2009. “The Character of Difference: Procedurality, Rhetoric and Roleplaying Games.” Game Studies: The International Journal of Computer Game Research 9 (2). http://gamestudies.org/0902
Courses taught
· DAC 204 – Introduction to Game Design
· COMMST 101 – Introduction to Communication Theory
· COMMST 228 – Public Communication
· COMMST 430 – Communication and Social Justice