CUSAS Workshop with Martha Hancock (University of Cambridge)

CUSAS Workshop with Martha Hancock (University of Cambridge)Queer Anthropology & Roleplaying Games: An Interactive Workshop

 

Ever been interested in speculative fiction and TTRPGs (tabletop roleplaying games)? I will give a short talk on how these role-playing games make us better and more human, opening a space for affective play. Drawing on the work of queer scholars including José Esteban Muñoz, Jack Halberstam, and Susan Stryker, I will show how TTRPGs can let us play with our future and past to explore the present.  

I will then provide some simple TTRPGs. From solo adventures to more involved games, I will demonstrate the ethnographic potential of these games and even show you one designed by the anthropologist Kellynn Wee. Bring a notebook and some imagination!

 

Martha Hancock is an MPhil student in Social Anthropological Research at the University of Cambridge, researching the affective potential of LARPing (live action roleplaying). Her research focuses on hope, affect, potentiality, and temporality in the face of social and political marginalisation, especially in the context of fantasy worldbuilding. She has hosted queer anthropology sessions on role-playing games and focuses on multimodal approaches.