Assignments

Role Play Autobiography (10%) -- Asks you to write a short autobiography detailing and defining one way or one role that you play in your life. Using a photo of yourself as inspiration, the essay asks you to analyze what does photo tell us about you, what it does not tell us, what assumptions can be made, and why the pictured role is important to consider.

Character History (10%) -- You will write a short history of the character you have created for Archaea Live-Action Role-Playing and Wargaming.

Play Logs, or, Plogs (20%) -- Each week you will engage various readings, media texts, theoretical perspectives, and of course, actual live-action role-playing play. You will be required to keep a weekly "plog" or "play log" about the texts that you see and read and your larping experience. Plog entries will be short reactions, responses, meditations, and provocations that engage your dressing up and play on a critical, analytical, or theoretical level. Plogs will be posted each week to the class blog.

Project Proposal (10%) -- As part of your Final Project research and writing process, you will be required to generate a 1-page research proposal in business memo format. You will also arrange for a conference with me to go over your proposal.

Final Project (20%) -- You will complete a final project integrating what you have explored and experienced with additional research, that draws on specific terms, concepts, or issues from the class, and that articulates the critical value of dressing up, cosplay, drag, LARP, or performance. Your final project can be a traditional research paper, a media production (which includes a substantive analytical component), or a hybrid of the two.

Information Sheets

The following are handouts, informational sheets, and readings that will be assigned or used over the course of the quarter. Each student will recieve a copy of each as a handout in class during the appropriate week. If you miss a sheet, feel free to print out a new copy.

Ed's Top Ten List of "Ways to Survive University"

Ed's Top Ten Rules of Writing

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

MLA Citation and Bibliographic Format

What is Close Reading?

Readings

Course texts are available via the UO Duck Store (or through any reputable bookseller). Short readings are available online or via the class Canvas. The required texts for this class are:

Chang, Edmond Y. Archaea Live-Action Role-Playing and Wargaming. CreateSpace, 2015.

Consult the course syllabus for the week's required reading. The following is a full bibliographical list of the class readings:

Aultman, B. "Cisgender." Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies. Spec. issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014) 61-62. Bowman, Sarah Lynne. "Bleed: The Spillover Between Player and Character." NordicLarp.org. 2 Mar. 2015. http://nordiclarp.org/2015/03/02/bleed-the-spillover-between-player-and-character/. Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. Dir. Laurent Malaquais. DVD. FilmBuff, 2012. Brown, Ashley ML. "Towards a Taxonomy of Sexy Analog Play." Analog Game Studies. 20 Jul. 2015. http://analoggamestudies.org/2015/07/towards-a-taxonomy-of-sexy-analog-play/. Brown, Maury Elizabeth. "The Trouble with Gender in Larp." Analog Game Studies. 13 Sep. 2015. http://analoggamestudies.org/2015/09/the-trouble-with-gender-in-larp/. Butler, Judith. "Critically Queer." GLQ. 1.1 (1993): 17-32. Cumberbatch, Chaka. "I'm a Black Female Cosplayer And Some People Hate It." 4 Feb. 2013. http://www.xojane.com/issues/mad-back-cosplayer-chaka-cumberbatch. Darkon. Dir. Andrew Neel and Luke Meyer. DVD. PorchLight Entertainment, 2007. Fine, Gary Alan. "Introduction." Shared Fantasy: Role-Playing Games as Social Worlds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983. 1-4. Gerdes, Kendall. "Performativity." Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies. Spec. issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014) 148-150. Goffman, Erving. "Introduction." The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Anchor Books, 1959. 1-16. Graham, Roy. "Finding Your Way as a Queer LARPer." Kill Screen. 20 Apr. 2015. https://killscreen.com/articles/finding-your-way-queer-larper/. Halberstam, Judith. "Gender." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 116-120. ---. "Mackdaddy, Superfly, Rapper: Gender, Race, and Masculinity in the Drag King Scene." Social Text. 52/53 (Winter 1997): 104-131. Hebdige, Dick. "Introduction: Subculture and Style." Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge, 1979. 1-4. Henry, Elsa S. "Reimagining Disability in Role-Playing Games." Analog Game Studies. 2 Feb. 2015. http://analoggamestudies.org/2015/02/reimagining-disability-in-role-playing-games/. Jones, Katherine Castiello. "Sex and Play-Doh: Exploring Women's Sexuality Through Larp." Analog Game Studies. 2 Sep. 2014. http://analoggamestudies.org/2014/09/sex-and-play-doh/. Lunning, Frenchy. "Cosplay and the Performance of Identity." 1 Jun. 2012. http://www.quodlibetica.com/cosplay-and-the-performance-of-identity/. Melody, Delia. "Trans Bodies Are Not a Halloween Costume." Huffpost Queer Voices. 2 Feb. 2016. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/delia-melody/trans-bodies-are-not-a-ha_b_8423568.html. Monster Camp. Dir. Cullen Hoback. DVD. Hyrax Films and Aaron Douglas Enterprises, 2007. Munoz, Jose Esteban. "Performing Disidentifications." Disidentifications: Queers of Color and the Performance of Politics. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1999. 1-34. Paris is Burning. Dir. Jennie Livingston. Miramax, 1990. Rivas, Jorge. "Ohio Univ. Students to Classmates: 'We're a Culture, Not a Costume.'" 25 Oct. 2011. http://www.colorlines.com/articles/ohio-univ-students-classmates-were-culture-not-costume. Somerville, Siobhan B. "Queer." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 187-191. Stark, Lizzie. "Dilemmas of the Lady Game Designer." Leaving Mundania. 25 Feb. 2013. http://leavingmundania.com/2013/02/25/dilemmas-of-the-lady-game-designer/. ---. "Larp and Activism: A match made in heaven?" Leaving Mundania. 25 Nov. 2014. http://leavingmundania.com/2014/11/25/larp-activism-match-made-heaven/. ---. "Larp's Physicality Raises Social Justice Questions." Leaving Mundania. 26 Nov. 2014. http://leavingmundania.com/2014/11/26/larps-physicality-raises-social-justice-questions/. ---. "Social Justice in Larp: A Practical Approach." Leaving Mundania. 1 Dec. 2014. http://leavingmundania.com/2014/12/01/social-justice-in-larp-a-practical-approach/. ---. "Race in Larp Checklist: What to Think About." Leaving Mundania. 24 Mar. 2014. http://leavingmundania.com/2014/03/24/race-in-larp-what-to-think-about/. ---. "A Wheelchair Ramp for Larp." Leaving Mundania. 20 Sep. 2014. http://leavingmundania.com/2014/09/29/wheelchair-ramp-larp/. Upkins, Dennis R. "Going Medieval." The Nerds of Color. 11 Feb. 2016. http://thenerdsofcolor.org/2016/02/11/going-medieval/. Vacco, Patrick. "PBS Showcases Queer Aspects of Cosplay." Advocate. 18 Apr. 2014. http://www.advocate.com/geek/2014/04/18/watch-pbs-showcases-queer-aspects-cosplay. Williams, Cristan. "Transgender." Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies. Spec. issue of TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly 1.1-2 (2014) 232-234. Print.

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