Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University Learning Sciences Dissertations Department of Learning Sciences 1-8-2016 Gender and Gaming: Postmodern Narratives of Liminal Spaces and Selves Amana Marie Le Blanc Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/ltd_diss Recommended Citation Le Blanc, Amana Marie, "Gender and Gaming: Postmodern Narratives of Liminal Spaces and Selves." Dissertation, Georgia State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/ltd_diss/1 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Learning Sciences at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Learning Sciences Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ACCEPTANCE This dissertation, GENDER AND GAMING: POSTMODERN NARRATIVES OF LIMINAL SPACES AND SELVES, by AMANA MARIE LE BLANC, was prepared under the direction of the candidate‘s Dissertation Advisory Committee. It is accepted by the committee members in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University. The Dissertation Advisory Committee and the student‘s Department Chairperson, as representatives of the faculty, certify that this dissertation has met all standards of excellence and scholarship as determined by the faculty. _________________________________ _________________________________ Jodi Kaufmann, Ph.D. Brendan Calandra, Ph.D. Committee Co-Chair Committee Co-Chair _________________________________ _________________________________ Teri J. Peitso-Holbrook, Ph.D. Jen Jenson, Ph.D. Committee Member Committee Member ________________________________ Date _________________________________ Stephen Harmon, Ph.D. Chairperson, Learning Technologies Division _________________________________ Paul A. Alberto, Ph.D. Dean, College of Education and Human Development AUTHOR’S STATEMENT By presenting this dissertation as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for the advanced degree from Georgia State University, I agree that the library of Georgia State University shall make it available for inspection and circulation in accordance with its regulations governing materials of this type. I agree that permission to quote, to copy from, or to publish this dissertation may be granted by the professor under whose direction it was written, by the College of Education and Human Development‘s Director of Graduate Studies, or by me. Such quoting, copying, or publishing must be solely for scholarly purposes and will not involve potential financial gain. It is understood that any copying from or publication of this dissertation which involves potential financial gain will not be allowed without my written permission. AMANA MARIE LE BLANC NOTICE TO BORROWERS All dissertations deposited in the Georgia State University library must be used in accordance with the stipulations prescribed by the author in the preceding statement. The author of this dissertation is: Amana Marie Le Blanc Learning Technologies Division College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University The directors of this dissertation are: Dr. Jodi Kaufmann Department of Educational Policy Studies College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 Dr. Brendan Calandra Learning Technologies Division College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 30303 CURRICULUM VITAE Amana Marie Le Blanc ADDRESS: 30 Pryor Street SW Atlanta, GA 30303 EDUCATION: Ph.D. 2015 Georgia State University Learning Technologies Division Master of Arts 2002 University of Houston Literature Bachelor of Science 1998 University of Houston Behavioral Science PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 2013-present Instructional Design Consultant Institute of Nuclear Power Opera- tions (INPO) 2010-present Instructional Design Consultant LeBlanc Learning Solutions, LLC 2008-2013 Senior Instructional Designer The Home Depot PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS: Bayeck, R. Y., Brusk, J., Le Blanc, A. M. & Tang, H. T. (2016, 03). New Spaces and New Reali- ties: Learning and Learners in the Digital Age. Comparative and International Education Society (CIES), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Le Blanc, A. M. (in press). Disruptive Meaning Making: Qualitative Data Analysis and Postmod- ern Pastiche. [Special Issue: Digital Tools in Qualitative Inquiry]. Qualitative Inquiry. Le Blanc, A. M. (2015, 09). Gender and Gaming: Exploring Gamer Performativity. The Video- game Cultures Project: 7th Global Meeting, Oxford, United Kingdom. Le Blanc, A. M. (2015, 08). Toward a post-multicase methodological approach. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education. Advance online publication. Le Blanc, A. M. (2015, 05). Gender and Gaming: A Post-Multicase Methodological Approach to Exploring Gamer Narratives. Eleventh Annual Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Cham- pagne-Urbana, IL. Le Blanc, A. M. (2014, 04). Gender and Gaming. Graduate Instructional Technology Student Col- loquium, Atlanta, GA Le Blanc, A. M. (2013, 10). Making the Technology Transition: Engaging Educators in Online Professional Development Seminars. Association for Educational Communication & Technology, Anaheim, California. Le Blanc, A. M. (2013, 05). Meaningful Gaming. Ninth Annual Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Champagne-Urbana, IL. Le Blanc, A. M. (2013, 04). Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT): Activating Human Per- formance. Graduate Instructional Technology Student Colloquium, Atlanta, GA AWARDS 2015/2016 Ethel Woodruff Draper Fellowship for the Development of Young Women PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 2010-present Association for Talent Development 2012-present International Society for Performance Improvement 2012-present Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2012-present American Educational Research Association GENDER AND GAMING: POSTMODERN NARRATIVES OF LIMINAL SPACES AND SELVES by AMANA LE BLANC Under the Direction of Jodi Kaufmann, Ph.D. and Brendan Calandra, Ph.D ABSTRACT This study employs a narrative approach to explore the relationship between gender and video gaming using a postmodern theoretical perspective. At issue here is the meaning ascribed to the construction and iterative performance of gender identity by self-identified female gamers. Using an alternative to the conventional multicase methodology (which inscribes stark demarca- tions around distinct cultural identities) this research understands participant cases as fragmented and fluid artifacts of hypermediated postmodern experiences. This study examines three gamers in an attempt to offer some provisional answers to the question: What does it mean to the participant in this study to identify as a female gamer? Furthermore, the following sub-questions will assist in cultivating understandings that offer unique and multifaceted worldviews: (a) How is gender identity enacted within video games? (b) How is gender identity enacted in out-of- game contexts related to gaming? (c) How does the construction and enactment of a gendered identity as part of the gaming experience influence individual gamer conceptions of gender? Data sources—including interviews, observations, audiovisual artifacts, and researcher memos— reveal types of ―lived‖ events (Deleuze & Guattari, 1991/1994, pp. 33-34) as opposed to participants‘ truths as substantiated by means of ―brute data‖ (St. Pierre, 2013a). Data is represented in narrative form as a means of disrupting the prevailing discourse that stages digital culture as male purview, and opening up the space for reinscription. INDEX WORDS: Video games, Gamer identity, Gender and technology, Gender and gaming, Adapted multicase methodology, Fiction-based educational research, Postmodernism, Feminist criticism GENDER AND GAMING: POSTMODERN NARRATIVES OF LIMINAL SPACES AND SELVES by AMANA LE BLANC A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Instructional Technology in the Learning Technologies Division of the College of Education and Human Development Georgia State University Atlanta, GA 2015 Copyright by Amana M. Le Blanc 2015 DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to all the gamers who continually invent and reinvent themselves though their gender enactment in video games. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A project as substantial as a dissertation requires the sponsorship, collaboration, and criti- cal attention of many people. I would like to express my deep gratitude to my dissertation chairs, Drs. Jodi Kaufmann and Brendan Calandra for working closely with me to ensure this project‘s success. Both have thoughtfully and tirelessly read through multiple drafts, offering insights that enriched my deliberations and influenced my practices. It was in Dr. Kaufmann‘s class, during my first semester, that I wrote an extremely rough draft of this study. The evolution of that brash and ill-conceived proposal into the present study, is due in large part to Dr. Kaufmann's words of encouragement, her thought-provoking questions scrawled on numerous papers, and her tireless commitment to cultivating new knowledge narra- tives. She saw potential and possibility in my pursuits and adeptly guided me toward mature un- derstandings of my topic and chosen methodological approaches. I am also profoundly grateful to Dr. Calandra for his valuable and constructive sugges- tions