Coming up this weekend at the Modern Language Association annual convention held this year in Seattle:
332. Digital Narratives and Gaming for Teaching Language and Literature
Friday, 6 January, 3:30–4:45 p.m., Aspen, Sheraton
Program arranged by the MLA Committee on Information Technology and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Presiding: Barbara Lafford, Arizona State Univ.
1. “Narrative Expression and Scientific Method in Online Gaming Worlds,” Steven Thorne, Portland State Univ.
2. “Designing Narratives: A Framework for Digital Game-Mediated L2 Literacies Development,” Jonathon Reinhardt, Univ. of Arizona; Julie Sykes, Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque
3. “Close Playing, Paired Playing: A Practicum,” Edmond Chang, Univ. of Washington, Seattle; Timothy Welsh, Loyola Univ., New Orleans
Responding: Dave McAlpine, Univ. of Arkansas, Little Rock
And:
736. Close Playing: Literary Methods and Video Game Studies
Sunday, 8 January, 1:45–3:00 p.m., University, Sheraton
A special session
Presiding: Mark L. Sample, George Mason Univ.
Speakers: Edmond Chang, Univ. of Washington, Seattle; Steven E. Jones, Loyola Univ., Chicago; Jason C. Rhody, National Eudowment for the Humanities; Anastasia Salter, Univ. of Baltimore; Timothy Welsh, Loyola Univ., New Orleans; Zach Whalen, Univ. of Mary Washington
For abstracts, visit www.samplereality.com/mla12.
Session Description:
This roundtable moves beyond the games-versus-stories dichotomy to explore the full range of possible literary approaches to video games. These approaches include the theoretical and methodological contributions of reception studies, reader-response theory, narrative theory, critical race and gender theory, disability studies, and textual scholarship.