- Feb 6, 2013
Cool Japan research project and Comparative Media Studies present
Nostalgia for a Not-So-Distant Youth:
Digital Games and Affect in Urban China
Marcella Szablewicz (MIT)
Thursday, Feb 7th, 5- 7pm, Room E14-633, MIT
free and open to the public, reception to follow
ABSTRACT: Young people born in 1980’s and 1990’s China are the focus of a great deal of scholarly attention as they are the country’s first generation of only children. They are also the first generation to come of age with the Internet, and, for many, playing Internet games forms an integral part of the youth experience. This presentation will explore the affective dimensions of digital games from the perspective of urban Chinese youth. What is the significance of an e-sports event that attracts tens of thousands of twenty-somethings, many of whom experience it as a teary-eyed “farewell to their youth”? Or a viral video created by World of Warcraft gamers that urges millions of viewers to “raise their fists in solidarity” to show support for their “spiritual homeland”? What should we make of these phenomena that demonstrate, ever more clearly, the ways in which games are intertwined with people’s spiritual and emotional lives? Are games the imagined utopia they are made out to be in these nostalgic accounts or might these affective attachments prove to be a form of what Lauren Berlant (2011) has called “cruel optimism,” a relationship in which the very thing that is desired becomes an obstacle to flourishing?
BIO: Marcella Szablewicz is a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Comparative Media Studies at MIT. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Communication and Media at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.A. in East Asian Studies from Duke University. Her research focuses on youth and digital media in urban China. She is currently working on a book based on her dissertation, provisionally entitled From Addicts to Athletes: Youth Mobilities and the Politics of Digital Gaming in Urban China. Based on ethnographic fieldwork supported by the Fulbright and National Science Foundations, the book will examine the precarious socio-economic futures of urban Chinese youth through the lens of digital gaming culture, while also considering how dominant discourse about digital leisure practice is shaped by larger cultural debates about patriotism and productivity, class and the crafting of the “ideal citizen”. Her work can also be found in the Routledge volume Online Society in China and in the Chinese Journal of Communication.
- Feb 6, 2013
Thanks to those who came to our Shinnenkai! We had a great turnout of 33 adults and 4 kids.
We’re hoping that you can also join us for our bi-annual Nihongo-Dake party. This will be on Wednesday, February 20th at 5:30pm at Blue Fin in Porter Square. NEJETAA will be providing appetizers (generously subsidized by CLAIR), and we’ll be choosing from a set menu for dinner. The dinner cost should be around $20 depending on the number of attendees (not including drinks), so please bring cash. Be sure to invite Japanese friends!
Please RSVP to me at social at nejetaa dot com by Wednesday 2/13, and let me know if you’re bringing a Japanese speaking friend.
Hope to see you there!
Cheers,
Katie
Social Chair
- Jan 30, 2013
Let’s go to Waterville Valley, NH on March 2nd!
Avid Skier? Snowboard fanatic? Always wanted to try snowshoeing or cross country? Or yearning for fun in the snow with new and old friends? Now’s your chance!
NEJETAA has got a hold of some great deals for our group trip to Waterville Valley, NH!
All levels welcome. Open to JET Alum and friends. So come along and enjoy the winter snow – before you know it, it just may melt on you!
Calling all Northern New England JET Alums!
We would especially love to see you! So we have a special treat – we’d like to treat the JET alums from Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont to free food vouchers for use at any restaurant on the mountain!
Not quite ready to make a commitment? We’d appreciate it if you email vicepres at nejetaa dot com to let us know if you are considering going – so we can get a tentative head count. Thanks & stay toasty!