Date Available
5-18-2022
Year of Publication
2022
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Document Type
Master's Thesis
College
Arts and Sciences
Department/School/Program
English
First Advisor
Dr. Regina Hamilton
Second Advisor
Dr. Kishonna Gray
Abstract
Representations of fantasy settings in roleplaying games often draw upon understandings of the medieval and early Renaissance world. This dynamic often extends to racial politics in such worlds. For the contemporary roleplaying game, this often means that game mechanics are built around race, species, or gender. Often, players interpret such mechanics as a means of bioessentializing race or practicing stereotypes rooted in Eurocentric morality and values.
This thesis examines the underlying rhetoric and implicit stakes by which race in fantasy worlds overlaps with the rhetoric and proposed stakes of White Nationalist and Alt-right actors. As fantasy roleplaying games, and especially analog games, have evaded scholarly attention, little has been said about the burgeoning, identitarian movements in such communities and the ways in which these communities interpret popular gaming artifacts. This work reveals ongoing issues in representing race, medievalisms, and the genre of fantasy.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2022.172
Funding Information
This work was supported by a Teaching Assistantship granted by the University of Kentucky's Department of English from Fall 2020 to Spring 2022.
Recommended Citation
Hines, Mark, "FANTASIES OF RACE AND PLACE: WHITE NATIONALIST AND ALT-RIGHT UNDERCURRENTS IN FANTASY ROLEPLAYING GAMES" (2022). Theses and Dissertations--English. 143.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/english_etds/143
