APME-Special Issue 2015 - Asia Pacific Media Educator: Special Issue on Representation of race, ethnicity and culture in digital games

Special Issue on Representation of race, ethnicity and culture in digital games (Volume 26, Issue 1, June 2016)
Asia Pacific Media Educator (Volume 26:1, June 2016) will explore the issues of race, cultural diversity, cross-cultural representations and inter-cultural dynamics in digital games. This thematic issue will address three topic areas:
1) Representation in digital games:
Games like the Global Conflict series have been used to simulate the media’s role in fostering understanding and awareness of racial and ethnic conflicts. One such example is Global Palestine in which Israeli students play as Palestinians, and Palestinian students play as Israelis. What is the future of such games that deliberate on issues of political conflicts driven by race and ethnicity? Can games be used to foster cross-cultural understanding and enhance tolerance/acceptance of diversity in race and religion? How do digital games incite racial hatred? Besides entertainment, what other functions do games play in contemporary multicultural societies?
2) Discourse on race and culture in teaching journalism:
How can media academics recognise and respond to the discourse about race, religion, ethnicity and politics in digital games? What are the educational trends in teaching about multiculturalism in games? How are the issues of cultural diversity in digital games discussed in media studies and journalism courses? What are the innovative practices in teaching cultural diversity with digital games?
3) Development of multicultural digital games
While the majority of high-profile titles are developed and distributed from the US and Japan, the drive to reduce production costs has meant that development is frequently outsourced to countries such as Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia. However, while game development is increasingly becoming a global enterprise, questions remain over the extent to which this diversity of production is reflected in the game content.
Commentaries and Q&As
This thematic issue also welcomes commentaries and book reviews, which take the form of Q&As with the book authors. Book reviewers should inform the guest editors the books to be reviewed and whether the book authors are contactable for a Q&A.
Deadlines are as follows:
Abstract for consideration: 10 September 2015
Paper for double blind peer review: 30 October 2015
Peer review period: November ? December 2015
Submission of final paper: 15 January 2016
The word lengths for full papers are:
? Commentaries (3000 ? 3500 words)
? Research papers (6000 words max including references)
? Book reviews (Q&A with book author) (1500 words max)
This issue will be guest edited by Dr Mark Finn (Swinburne University of Technology) and Dr Wajeehah Aayeshah (Charles Sturt University).
Please email abstracts and paper to wajeehah-AT-gmail.com, and copy to the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Eric Loo (University of Wollongong) at: eloo-AT-uow.edu.au