Lecture at Musée Mohammed VI Rabat: "GAMING, HERITAGE, AND CITIZENSHIP"

Morocco has in recent decades developed a strong policy to protect and promote heritage, both material and intangible. It also boasts very active and talented communities of young people involved in gaming and game design.

In this context, a lecture has been scheduled at Musée Mohammed VI Rabat, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Netherlands, LUCAS, and NIMAR, Leiden University. 

In this lecture three prominent scholars from Leiden University (the Netherlands) will present their projects for cooperation with Moroccan colleagues in the field of play, gaming and heritage. Professor Sybille Lammes studies new digital media, especially gaming, and also more traditional forms of playfulness. Her work also has methodological and conceptual dimensions, resulting in “playful research”, and reflections on the work of major theorists in the fields, notably Johan Huizinga.

Angus Mol and Aris Politopoulos are archaeologists who study remains of plays and games of the past through experimental research. They also strive to promote consciousness and concern among ordinary citizens, especially young people, for heritage through the playing of games.

The three speakers will also present their experiences in a recent workshop with secondary school students in Salé reconstructing the famous monument Bab le-Mrisa through the game of Minecraft. This workshop is meant to be the first in a larger project of cooperation between Morocco and the Netherlands connecting game studies and heritage policies.

Speakers:

Prof. Sybille LAMMES, Director LUCAS, Leiden University

Dr Angus MOL, LUCAS, Leiden University

Dr Aris POLITOPOULOS, Archaeology, Leiden University

Brief Biographical Notes:

Prof. Sybille LAMMES is full professor New Media and Digital Culture at Leiden University and Academic Director of LUCAS. Her background is in media-studies and game-studies, which she has always approached from an interdisciplinary angle, including cultural studies, science and technology studies, postcolonial studies, and critical geography.

Dr Angus MOL is an archaeologist and a University Lecturer at the Leiden University Centre for the Arts in Society. Angus combines the study of history using a digital approach with the study of how today’s digital cultures are entwined with history. In particular, he looks at how contemporary play functions as a mirror of the past as well as how games can be used to democratize access to the past.

Dr Aris POLITOPOULOS is an Assistant Professor in Archaeology and Cultural Politics at the Faculty of Archaeology. His research focuses on archaeology and video games, the archaeology of play, ancient board games, the archaeology of the Eastern Mediterranean, and radical archaeology. Aris has conducted extensive research on the archaeology of play, both through the study of ancient play (e.g. ancient board games), as well as through the study of contemporary video games that deal with the past.