PLASMA (Performances, Lectures, And Screenings in Media Art)​ presents a ZOOM-ONLY presentation by Akil Fletcher, videogame and media scholar.

Akil Fletcher is an award-winning researcher and PhD candidate in the Anthropology department at the University of California Irvine. His work focuses on understanding how Black gamers experience and utilize games and online platforms to create community. Currently, his project funded by the National Science Foundation seeks to understand how online Black communities use these platforms to form selfhood and relationships within games that traditionally have not been seen as Black spaces. His current research engages with the games Final Fantasy XIV and League of Legends. Fletcher's paper "Esports and the Color Line: Skill, Labor, and the Exclusion of Black Players" was published in the Proceedings of the 53^rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences in 2020. His lecture tonight will be focused on his concept of the magic circle of whiteness and the figure of the Black spoilsport. 

As always, PLASMA lectures are free and open to the UB community and the public.​

PLASMA is sponsored by the University at Buffalo's Department of Media Study and funding is provided by the Office of the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The series is taught and organized by Dr. Paige Sarlin, Assistant Professor of Media Study, in collaboration with Sylvie Fortin, UB Art Gallery, Ekrem Serdar, and Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Art Center.