I am an ethnographer of gaming cultures. I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies based at the University of Jyväskylä and will be joining the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University as an Assistant Professor in Fall 2019. I research gaming's boundary work as structuring categories in post-Fordism, as achievement systems in player communities, and as moral calculations in the new economy. My other work explores the biopolitics of data analytics in EEG headsets through media archaeology and digital minimalism in social media through critical discourse analysis. I received my PhD in Communication and Culture from Indiana University in 2017. My work has been supported by training from the School of Criticism and Theory, funding from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and an internship at Microsoft Research New England. 

Meetings

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  • Panel on "Playing with Platforms: Game-Making Practices and Labour under Platform Governance," Paper on "Every Bit in its Place: The Politics of Decluttering in Digital Minimalism," and co-organising "Early Career Scholars Workshop." Association of Internet Researchers Conference. 2-5 October 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. 
 

news


  • Participating in Workshop on "Performance Ethnography: Enlivening the Field Through Theatrical Techniques.” June 10 2019 at UCL Anthropology, London.
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  • Article "Productive Leisure in Post-Fordist Fandom" accepted by Journal of Fandom Studies: Special issue on Events, Tourism, and Leisure - 30/04/19
 
aleenachia (at) gmail.com

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