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 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

• Panel on "Production beyond the Studio: From Playbour to Gamework" and Paper on "Procedural and Promotional Rhetoric in Digital Gaming." Digital Games Research Association Conference. 6-10 August 2019 in Kyoto, Japan. 

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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. 

 

• Presentation on "Inscriptive and Incitive Media in Consciousness Hacking." 14th Organization Studies Workshop. 23-25 May 2019 in Mykonos, Greece.

Updates

• Blog Post on joining faculty at Simon Fraser University on Centre of Excellence for Game Culture Studies Blog

• ​​​​Article "The Moral Calculus of Vocational Passion in Digital Gaming" published in Television & New Media - 23/05/19

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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

• Article "Virtual Lucidity: A Media Archeology of Dream Hacking Wearables" published in communication+1 - 24/03/2019

aleenachia (at) gmail.com

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Find me on twitter

@aleenachia