Gaming the Nation. An intersectional approach to nation, identity and gaming

• Duration: 2022 – 2025
• Project lead: Dr. Kathrin Trattner

Post-Doc Project

The research project deals with the multiple entanglements of gaming and constructions of national identity by linking two research perspectives that are often perceived as contrary to each other – media aesthetics and communication studies. It explores the question of

a) how nations and national identities are represented and made tangible through the audiovisual, narrative, spatial and procedural structures of the medium and their interplay, and
b) how gamers perceive and negotiate this construction. The focus is on internationally marketed and successful (AAA) games with historical settings.

Particular attention is paid to the question of the extent to which concepts of national identity not only formulate “the own”, but also “the other” in contrast to it, in order to find out to what extent constructions of nation within games can possibly transmit or even consolidate social inequalities in times of profound mediatization. From a theoretical point of view, the research project aims to further develop Benedict Anderson’s concept of nations as ‘imagined communities’ in the context of theories of profound mediatization and to expand it to include an intersectional perspective. The main informative value of the research project lies in the combination of media-aesthetic and actor-centered perspectives.

The primary goal is therefore to systematically explore the interrelationships between games and constructions of national identities at the level of games and players, and thus not only to make an important contribution to the further development of the research field of nation, identity and gaming, but also to serve as a meta-level example of how two research perspectives that are often perceived as contrary to each other can be productively combined.