Gender Identities at Play: Children’S Digital Gaming in Two Settings in Cape Town
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Town Cape of University 1 The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Gender identities at play: children’s digital gaming in two settings in Cape Town Nicola Pallitt Town Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYCape of Supervisor: Dr. Marion Walton Co-supervisor: Associate Prof. Mastin Prinsloo in the Centre for Film and Media Studies UniversityFaculty of Humanities UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN November 2013 2 Table of Contents Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... 8 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................. 10 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 12 Digital games in contexts of inequality: the case of South Africa .................................... 13 Race, class and assimilation in Cape Town ................................................................... 15 Children’s mediatised play and consumption in SA ....................................................... 17 Children’s digital gaming in two middle-class settings in Cape Town .............................. 19 Theoretical position.................................................................................................... 21 Key definitions and concepts used in this study ............................................................. 23 Gender identities and performance ........................................................................... 23 Children’s identities and media use .......................................................................... 25 Digital games and play............................................................................................ 27 Rhetorics of play .................................................................................................... 29 Appropriation ........................................................................................................ 30 Children’s appropriations of digital games: strategies and tactics ................................. 31 Gender tactics ........................................................................................................ 32 Chapter exposition .....................................................................................................Town 34 Chapter 2: Ludic gendering and gender tactics – how children perform gender identities through appropriating digital games ....................................................................................................... 38 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 38 Game cultures: technicity and hegemony ......................................................................Cape 40 Hegemonic masculinity, hypermasculinity, hyperfemininity and gaming ......................... 41 Ludic gendering in games ...........................................................................................of 44 Game Literacy and identity ......................................................................................... 47 Understanding children’s game cultures ....................................................................... 49 Discourses of childhood and the role of technology in children’s lives ......................... 49 Children’s gaming as peer pedagogy and relational agency ......................................... 50 Childhood Studies: agency and the role of peer and adult culture................................. 55 Social differentiation: Gender and Play ..................................................................... 56 Developing identities through gender tactics ................................................................. 58 Play and games in children’sUniversity peer cultures ................................................................ 58 Gameplay and performing gender tactics .................................................................. 59 Strategies and tactics in studies of gender and games ................................................. 61 Gaming as appropriation ......................................................................................... 62 Revisiting Game Studies definitions............................................................................. 64 ‘Play’ and ‘game’: A return to Caillois’ classification of games .................................. 65 Typologies of game rules, types of games and gamers ................................................ 68 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 70 Chapter 3: Researching children’s digital gameplay ..................................................................... 71 Applying reception research to children’s gameplay ...................................................... 71 Ethnographic approaches to fieldwork with children ...................................................... 73 Observing ludic interactions ........................................................................................ 75 Ethnography, intervention and action research in Game Studies ...................................... 77 3 Theory to method: the role of video-recording .............................................................. 81 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 82 Chapter 4: Methodology ............................................................................................................ 83 Overview of research methodology .............................................................................. 83 Documenting play ...................................................................................................... 84 Rationale for methodological approach ........................................................................ 84 Child-centred research ................................................................................................ 85 Rationale for selection of games .................................................................................. 86 Data collection and procedure ..................................................................................... 88 Negotiating access to fieldsites ................................................................................ 88 Difficulties involved in gaining access to children ..................................................... 91 Ethical research with children .................................................................................. 92 Pilot study: Riverside Boys Primary School .................................................................. 94 Jennifer’s Arts and Crafts club at St Mary’s Primary School ........................................... 95 Overview of participants ......................................................................................... 97 Jennifer’s classroom as a gaming space .................................................................... 97 Sarah and Dorothy’s holiday club at Riverside Boys .................................................... 100 Overview of participants ....................................................................................... 100 The gym hall as a gaming space ............................................................................. 101 Methods of data collection ........................................................................................Town 103 Questionnaire....................................................................................................... 104 Interviews ........................................................................................................... 105 Informal focus group discussions ........................................................................... 106 Game demonstrations ........................................................................................... 107 Children’s recordings............................................................................................Cape 107 Participant observation and gameplay recordings ..................................................... 108 Methods of data analysis ...........................................................................................of 109 Coding ................................................................................................................ 109 Sampling video data ............................................................................................. 110 Transcription ....................................................................................................... 110 SNA and the use of play schedules ......................................................................... 111 Conclusion .............................................................................................................