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Playing Oppression: The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games

Mikael Jakobsson

Culture, humanities & social science

Playing Oppression: The Legacy of Conquest and Empire in Colonialist Board Games

By Mikael Jakobsson, lecturer in comparative media studies, and Mary Flanagan

MIT Press · 2023

In "Playing Oppression," Jakobsson and Flanagan apply incisive frameworks of postcolonial theory to a broad historical survey of board games to show how seemingly benign entertainments reinforce the logic of imperialism. The work deftly analyzes this insidious violence and proposes a path forward with board games that challenge colonialist thinking and embrace a much broader cultural imagination.

From Summer 2023 recommended reading from MIT (MIT News). Cover image via Google Books.