Heritage, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Board Games

by Michal Mochocki (Editor)

Overview

Heritage, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Board Games is a unique edited collection that explores the interplay of heritage, memory, identity and history within postcolonial board games and their surrounding paratexts. It also examines critiques of these games within the gamer communities and beyond.

Drawing on a range of international contributions, examples and case studies, this book shows how colonialism-themed games work as representations of the past that are influenced by existing heritage narratives and discourses. It also considers the implications of using colonial histories in games and its impact on its audience, the games’ players.

Heritage, Memory and Identity in Postcolonial Board Games will be relevant to scholars and postgraduate students in the fields of game studies, game design or development, heritage studies, postcolonial criticism, media studies, and history. It will also be beneficial to practicing game developers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032411125
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/19/2024
Pages:	136
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michał Mochocki, PhD in Literature and Dr. habil in Culture and Religion Studies, explores storyworlds, narratives and role-plays in games, reenactment, and fiction from the angles of transmedia narratology and heritage studies. His recent book is Role-play as a Heritage Practice (Routledge, 2021). With grant funding from the National Science Center in Poland, he currently runs a research project on historical settings as transmedia storyworlds across literature and games. Outside the Academia, he was a writer and designer of historical larps and tabletop RPG, and a board game design educator with Rebel.pl. Now he works in video games with the False Prophet studio as a game writer, historical consultant, and R&D project manager.

Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to Board Games in Postcolonial Game Studies; 2. "Two, Three… Many Vietnams". Anti-Colonial Struggle, Postcolonialism and Counterinsurgency in Historical Board Games; 3. Design Elements in Postcolonial Commercial Historical Board Wargames; 4. Colonialist and Anti-Colonialist Play in Spirit Island: A Ludo-Textual Analysis; 5. Unearthing Ancient Roots? Recognizing and Redefining Mexican Identity through Board Games; 6. The Brazilian (Gamer) Culture through the Lenses of Nostalgia: An Analysis of Brazil: Imperial; 7. Heritagisation and Heritage Conflict: The Finnish Afrikan tähti Board Game and its Change to Contested Heritage, 1951–2021; 8. No Meeples for Scramble for Africa. Online Debates on Playing Historical Trauma