SOCIATION

The Official Peer-Reviewed and Open Access Journal of the North Carolina Sociological Association

 CALL FOR PAPERS

Racism and Sexism in Virtual Comic and Gaming Environments

Rhys Hall, rhys.hall@uconn.edu

David G. Embrick, david.embrick@uconn.edu

Although we have witnessed an increase in social science scholarship in comic and gaming environments, and in particular the still new area of game studies and the application of computer games to learning, military, therapeutic, and entertainment environments, few scholars have attempted to contextualize the importance of virtual play within a broader social, cultural, and political environment that raises the question of the racialized, gendered (and classed processes) at the institutional level that help replicate overt and hidden inequalities in comic and gaming environments. Most recently, there has been an uptick in studies interested in better understanding why virtual realms are “fun” and/or interrogating the social psychological contexts and interactions of work and play. While some of these studies have included some analysis on racism and sexism (and even class and homo/transphobia in comic and gaming environments), often the analysis is centered on divisions of labor or relegated to cultural studies that tend to be descriptive and not very critically engaged. We feel that a sociological approach that centers on examining virtual comic and gaming environments from a racialized and/or gendered organizational perspective is needed to best understand how inequalities are consistently produced and reproduced at the meso (institutional)-level. Such studies might help us best understand virtual gaming environments (e.g., MMORPGs, fighting games), comic and entertainment conventions, or even online arenas (e.g., Twitch) replicate the racism, sexism, and other forms of inequalities in everyday society.

We welcome submissions from all social science disciplines, so long as sociological analysis is a central voice in the overall theoretical frameworks and conversations. We encourage accessible writing with active voice and a minimal amount of academic jargon. Below, we outline some (but not all) thematic areas of interest with possible questions for your consideration as a paper topic:

• How has the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated existing racism and sexism in virtual comic and gaming environments?
• What is the relationship between digital play technology, cultural representation and the body?
• How do artists grapple with the increasingly profitable relationship between comic book stories and film media? Who benefits most/least, how have dynamics of the craft changed with these new levels of access and obligation (that are not accessible to all)?
• How does marketing of games impact the reproduction of gender and race stereotypes? Further, who are often behind the scenes in regards to who gets hired for marketing?
• What are the political, cultural or ideological narratives spun by online games?
• What is the relationship between game controversies over sex and violence and the history of moral panics in the United States or overseas? How are game controversies dealt with in other countries? How has non-gaming/comic society reacted to controversies that arose in the gaming and comic book realms?
• What are the limitations of social science research methods in making sense of this new digital media when studying racism and/or sexism?
• How can we move beyond the limited experimental studies and anecdotal evidence that often passes for scientific knowledge about virtual realms?
• How has the “media effects” literature contributed to mystification, stereotyping and a general lack of understanding of modern digital game play? What are the institutional, political and monetary sources of this distortion?
• How do virtual realms and MMORPGs shape emotions and influence social interactions?
• What is the role of social solidarity and trust in on-line virtual realms and how do they shape social interactions?
• What are the gender, race, class, and age stereotypes used in MMORPGs and how are they used or manipulated both by game players and by game developers?
• How does game chat and game behavior conform or violate traditional notions of social stereotypes?

Submission Guidelines: This Special Issue is with the peer-reviewed academic journal Sociation. Please make sure to follow the proper guidelines and format as required by the journal. You can find this information here: https://sociation.ncsociologyassoc.org/submission-guidelines/submission-guidelines/

If you are interested in submitting a paper to this special issue, please submit an abstract, no longer than 500 words, to either Rhys Hall (rhys.hall@uconn.edu)r to David G. Embrick (david.embrick@uconn.edu) by September 30^th, 2020 for consideration. Decisions to invite a paper for consideration to the special issue will be made October 15^th, 2020.

In your abstract, please make sure to include the following:

-How your paper fits with the ongoing narrative and themes as described in the CFP

-What literature you plan to engage in your paper

Finally, please be sure to include a

Working title and key words for your paper

-Specification on the sub-community you are passionate about or intend to study

-Key words that hit on the major components of your paper

Please direct all correspondence, including any questions or requests for additional information, Rhys Hall (rhys.hall@uconn.edu) or to David G. Embrick (david.embrick@uconn.edu)