Post-Doc Project Much research in game studies has focused on game communities and their effects on people and society. But with this project I argue that we need a better theoretical grounding for how game communities form, and how they are then negotiated and maintained. What are the forces, influences and affordances that shape this (…)

German Team: Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler, Dr. Hannah Grünenthal International Team: Dr. Gladys Ganiel (Queen’s University Belfast), Prof. Dr. Solange Lefebvre (University of Montréal), Prof. Dr. Slawomir Mandes (University of Warsaw), Dr. Caoimhe Ni Dhonaill (Queens University Belfast, Mathieu Colin (Montréal), Denitsa Tsvetkova (University of Montréal), Dr. Marta Kolodziejska (University of Warsaw), Dr. Katarzyna Sienicka (…)

Postdoc project Video game cultures are central parts of contemporary societies. In addition to economic interests, due to the economic significance of the video game industry, this also involves socio-cultural and political discourses. Video games and video game cultures can be understood as expressions of globalized media cultures. However, they also have to be perceived (…)

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. 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.

Head: Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Dorota Hall, Polish Academy of Sciences Funding: German Research Foundation (DFG) Media coverage of the refugee crisis has reinforced the tendency of media marginalization of the Christian minority. This has affected smaller Christian communities in particular, forcing them to rethink their self-perception in identity-forming discourses. (…)

Project management: Prof. Dr. Kerstin Radde-Antweiler (ZeMKI-Lab “Medien und Religion”) Research network/cooperation: University of North Carolina, Dalhousie University, University of Helsinki Funding institution: University of Helsinki Future Development Fund The role of media for the construction of cultural heritage and national identities is well accepted and partly researched already. However, much the research is so (…)