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Game Night: Gaming & Empire

From Risk to Civilization, many extremely popular and long-running games have focused on the questions of an empire. Even games that do not revolve around the military force, such as Settlers of Catan, take up settler colonialism in a scramble for land. While many of these games are about building and maintaining empire - both through martial and cultural means - there have been recent attempts from creators to push back on the straightforward narratives like those of Risk, Civilization, and Catan. Games such as Spirit Island or Root, in fact, could be characterized as anti-colonial, but do these games do enough work?

What can we learn from playing games that - at least on the surface - reinforce imperialism?
Why are these narratives so popular?
What does it mean to play at building an empire?

Come play games that think about civilization, settler colonialism, military strategy, and other representations of an empire.

Food & Drinks will be served in Link 5.

Contact: Jamal Quick