Anthropology 236 - Games, Culture, and Power

Game designer Eric Zimmerman has proclaimed the 21st century to be the "Ludic Century." Jane McGonigal writes that "reality is broken," and games may be the solution for social problems. In this course, we will use tabletop, card, role-playing, and digital games to explore themes in social, behavioral, and cultural theory such as play, cooperation, social change, symbols, and power. The course presents an introduction to cultural anthropology using games as a focus and medium for learning. We will learn to analyze texts and games anthropologically. As a creative, experiential learning component, we will learn about the basic elements of game design, and as a final culminating project, student teams will develop games based on anthropological concepts which we'll playtest at #AnthropologyConUMass. Previous courses in cultural/linguistic anthropology (such as ANTHRO 100, 104, 105 or 106) is desireable but not required. (Gen. Ed. SB, DG)