Visiting Ofstad Scholar Kyle Eveleth Lecture: “The Semiotics of Play, or ‘Teaching History through Cannibalism’”

What does it mean to “play a game”? How is such meaning generated? How is that meaning tied both to the instructions of the game as well as to its actual execution? And what happens to meaning when we modify those instructions? Most importantly, how can a better understanding of how games signify translate into better teaching and learning?

Please note: all cannibalistic activities will be both fictional and playful; no actual eating of humans will be required, encouraged, or tolerated.

 

Kyle W. Eveleth is the Writing Services and Tutoring Coordinator at Otterbein University in Westerville, OH. He holds a PhD in Contemporary Literature and Children’s Literature from the University of Kentucky. He has been a Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Fellow, King/Chavez/Parks Future Faculty Fellow, and Dartmouth University Futures of American Studies Institute Fellow, and has published widely on video games, graphic narrative, and children’s literature. His most recent book, The Artistry of Neil Gaiman: Finding Light in the Shadows, co-edited with Joseph Michael Sommers, is available from the University Press of Mississippi. Outside academia, Kyle enjoys birdwatching, hiking, foraging, and amateur game development.