Fun, Games and Research
The Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities is happy to introduce the new initiative "Fun and Games (Research) with the CEAH" this semester. These events will be a place for faculties to come together and share their research while also engaging in playing games and having fun. The goal is to build community between humanities faculty (or anyone else interested) via playing some games) while also learning about the fascinating games research going on here at ISU.
Each event will begin with 15-minute invited talk by a faculty member at ISU doing research on Games and related areas. After a brief Q&A session everyone in attendance will then be invited to stay and play a game such as Flip 7, Sushi Go or other similar group games. Snacks will be available for everyone attending.
Schedule for Games and Talks
There are going to be 4 game nights this semester, each with a talk from an accomplished faculty whose research focuses on games. These will take place from 4 PM - 7 PM at the Tearoom (23 Mackay Hall). Please see below for dates, titles of the talk and details of the speakers.
September 30
The talk: New Media Cults: Teaching Influencer Culture through a Board Game
Speaker: Jeffery Wheatley
Jeff Wheatley is an Assistant Professor whose research and teaching span history, religion, and game studies. His first book, American Fanatics: Religion, Rebellion, and Empire in the Nineteenth Century, critically examines media representations of fanatical religious groups deemed threatening to the growing US. A founding faculty member of the Game Design Major, he splits his classes between Religious Studies and Game Design. His emerging projects examine the shared vocabulary of the sacred in early Religious Studies and Game Studies scholarship, gamification for education, and how humanities research can inform game mechanics, theme, and world-building.
Game we're playing: Flip 7
October 28
The talk: Designing and Prototyping Geogames for a Better World
Speaker: Alenka Poplin
Alenka Poplin is an Associate Professor of Geoinformation Science at Iowa State University, where she directs the Game Design Major and GeoGames Lab. Her interdisciplinary research explores geogames, game design for community engagement, digital participation, and mapping emotions and places. She develops and studies games that connect people with real-world environments and support learning, participation, and positive societal change. Poplin holds a PhD in Geoinformation Science from Vienna University of Technology, an MBA from Clemson University, and a Master of Surveying from the University of Ljubljana. Her work bridges game design, geospatial technologies, urban planning, and human-centered approaches to engagement.
November 18
The talk: The Past is Now: Retro Game Dev
Speaker: Jared Hansen
Jared Hansen, PhD., is a researcher of video games and a hobbyist game developer. He earned his PhD in Media Studies from the University of Oregon. Prior to his arrival at ISU he taught at RMIT Vietnam as a Lecturer of Game Design. His research centers on gaming communities, retro gaming and nostalgia, video game history, and other aspects of game studies. He's currently writing a book on the history of homebrew development for the Nintendo DS. As a game developer he has written a TTRPG, shared pixel art assets, and released three games for the Gameboy. He continues to make time for retro homebrew development, and is happy to live in Ames with his wife and three kids.
December 9
The talk: Kitchen Table Generals and Basement Battlefields: A First Draft Social History of Cold Wargaming
Speaker: Jeremy Best
Jeremy Best is Associate Professor of History and a founding professor of Game Design at Iowa State University. He teaches courses at the intersection of the imagination and history; including in game design and the history of modern Germany. His current work, Blitzkrieg in the Basement, is on the intersection of game studies and Holocaust memory. It examines wargames about World War II and their role in the maintenance of Holocaust misinformation. He is the author of the award-winning book, Heavenly Fatherland: German Missionary Culture and Globalization in the Age of Empire (University of Toronto Press, 2021).
Registration
Click here to sign up for the game nights.
You can sign up for multiple of these in one form.
The deadline to sign up for the first game night is September 25.