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In 2017, Lapensée received the Serious Games Community Leadership Award from the Serious Games Special Interest Group of the [[International Game Developers Association]].<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://comartsci.msu.edu/about/newsroom/events/elizabeth-lapensee-receives-serious-games-community-leadership-award |title = Community Leadership Award |publisher = Michigan State University Communication Arts & Sciences |language = en |access-date = October 5, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url = http://btn.com/2017/04/07/how-a-michigan-state-professor-won-an-award-for-serious-video-games-btn-livebig/ |title = How a Michigan State professor wonworG |publisher = Big Ten Network |access-date = October 5, 2017 |language = en-us }}</ref> Her game [[Thunderbird Strike]] won the prize for Best Digital Media Work at the 2017 ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.<ref>{{cite web |title = Festival 2017 Winners |url = http://www.imaginenative.org/2017-award-winners |publisher = imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival |accessdate = October 30, 2017 }}</ref>
In 2017, Lapensée received the Serious Games Community Leadership Award from the Serious Games Special Interest Group of the [[International Game Developers Association]].<ref>{{Cite web |url = https://comartsci.msu.edu/about/newsroom/events/elizabeth-lapensee-receives-serious-games-community-leadership-award |title = Community Leadership Award |publisher = Michigan State University Communication Arts & Sciences |language = en |access-date = October 5, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url = http://btn.com/2017/04/07/how-a-michigan-state-professor-won-an-award-for-serious-video-games-btn-livebig/ |title = How a Michigan State professor wonworG |publisher = Big Ten Network |access-date = October 5, 2017 |language = en-us }}</ref> Her game [[Thunderbird Strike]] won the prize for Best Digital Media Work at the 2017 ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.<ref>{{cite web |title = Festival 2017 Winners |url = http://www.imaginenative.org/2017-award-winners |publisher = imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival |accessdate = October 30, 2017 }}</ref>

=== Indigenous Futurism ===

Elizabeth LaPensée's research is often cited in connection with [[Indigenous Futurism]]. [https://www.pdx.edu/nas/grace-l-dillon-2 Grace Dillon, Ph.D.] acclaims LaPensée's sci-fi animations as a "must-see" example of how Aboriginal storytelling can transform the way Aboriginal futures are imagined.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dillon|first1=Grace|title=Indigenous futurisms, bimaashi biidaas mose, flying and walking towards you|journal=Extrapolation|date=2016|volume=57|issue=1/2|page=2|doi=10.3828/extr.2016.2|accessdate=3 April 2017}}</ref> Furthermore, other researchers have pointed to LaPensée as a leader in Aboriginal game development who inspires others in this field to contend with Indigenous Futurisms. Researchers like [http://online.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3828/extr.2016.8 Kristina Baudemann] have indicated that Elizabeth LaPensée's ability to draw on her Aboriginal culture, spirituality, language and values and create new representations of Aboriginal people that transcend and debunk stereotypes and myths of Aboriginal people in Canada is a vital piece of contemporary work on [[Indigenous Futurism]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Dillon|first1=Grace|title=Indigenous futurisms, bimaashi biidaas mose, flying and walking towards you|journal=Extrapolation|date=2016|volume=57|issue=1/2|page=2|doi=10.3828/extr.2016.2|accessdate=3 April 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Baudemann|first1=Kristina|title=Indigenous Futurisms in North American Indigenous Art|journal=Extrapolation|date=January 2016|volume=57|issue=1-2|pages=117–150|doi=10.3828/extr.2016.8|accessdate=3 April 2017}}</ref>


== Works ==
== Works ==

Revision as of 18:48, 9 March 2018

Elizabeth LaPensée
Elizabeth LaPensée speaking at
#1ReasonToBe Conference, March 2015
In-universe information
TitleAssistant Professor
Occupationartist, game designer, writer, and researcher
AffiliationMichigan State University - Media & Information and Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures Department[1]
NationalityAnishinaabe, Métis, and Irish

Elizabeth LaPensée is a professor in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University.[2] She is Anishinaabe, Métis, and Irish.[2] She studies and creates video games, visual art, and digital media to help indigenous people confront and process intergenerational trauma[3].

Education

LaPensée received her Ph.D. from Simon Fraser University.[2] She wrote her thesis on Indigenous social impact game. Her dissertation was on the benefits of playing Survivance—[4] a social impact game that uplifts storytelling, art, and self-determination as a pathway to healing from historical trauma, especially Indigenous historical trauma.[5]

Indigenous game design

LaPensée designs games around indigenous identity. She often collaborates with community partners to create games and is active in organizing for the indigenous community. She argues that Native cultures have a different understanding of space and time than others, and can use that to innovate in game design.[6] She has been described as a key figure in Indigenous futurism.[7]

In 2014, LaPensée spoke out against a remake of Custer's Revenge, a controversial game that allows the player, as General Custer, to rape Native women.[8]

LaPensée's game Invaders was featured in the 2015 ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in Toronto.[9][10]

She organized the first Natives in Game Development meetup at the University of California, Santa Cruz, in May 2015.[11]

In 2017, Lapensée received the Serious Games Community Leadership Award from the Serious Games Special Interest Group of the International Game Developers Association.[12][13] Her game Thunderbird Strike won the prize for Best Digital Media Work at the 2017 ImagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.[14]

Indigenous Futurism

Elizabeth LaPensée's research is often cited in connection with Indigenous Futurism. Grace Dillon, Ph.D. acclaims LaPensée's sci-fi animations as a "must-see" example of how Aboriginal storytelling can transform the way Aboriginal futures are imagined.[15] Furthermore, other researchers have pointed to LaPensée as a leader in Aboriginal game development who inspires others in this field to contend with Indigenous Futurisms. Researchers like Kristina Baudemann have indicated that Elizabeth LaPensée's ability to draw on her Aboriginal culture, spirituality, language and values and create new representations of Aboriginal people that transcend and debunk stereotypes and myths of Aboriginal people in Canada is a vital piece of contemporary work on Indigenous Futurism.[16][17]

Works

Games

  • Thunderbird Strike (2017)
  • Coyote Quest (2017)
  • Manoominike (2017)
  • Mikan (2017)
  • Honour Water (2016)
  • Little Earth Strong (2016)
  • Singuistics: Anishinaabemowin (2016)
  • Invaders (2015)
  • Ninagamomin ji-nanaandawi'iwe (2015)
  • The Gift of Food (2014)
  • Gathering Native Foods (2014)
  • Max's Adventure (2013)
  • Mawisowin (2012)
  • Survivance (2011)
  • Techno Medicine Wheel (2008)
  • Venture Arctic (2007)

References

  1. ^ "Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D." Michigan State University. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "Elizabeth LaPensee". Michigan State University Communication Arts & Sciences. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  3. ^ "Healing indigenous trauma through video games". SFU News. Simon Fraser University. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  4. ^ LaPensee, Elizabeth (February 7, 2014). Survivance: An Indigenous Social Impact Game (Thesis). Simon Fraser University. p. V.
  5. ^ "Survivance". Survivance. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  6. ^ "The post-apocalyptic dimensional space of Native video game design". Ars Technica. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  7. ^ Guzman, Alicia (March 15, 2015). "Indigenous Futurisms". InVisible Culture: An Electronic Journal for Visual Culture.
  8. ^ "Offensive video game Custer's Revenge gets last stand online". CBC News. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  9. ^ "imagineNATIVE Brings Indigenous Art and Media to Prominence". CGMagazine. October 15, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  10. ^ "imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival explores games made by and about Indigenous peoples". Financial Post. October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  11. ^ "UC Santa Cruz to host Natives in Game Dev Gathering". Games and Playable Media. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  12. ^ "Community Leadership Award". Michigan State University Communication Arts & Sciences. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  13. ^ "How a Michigan State professor wonworG". Big Ten Network. Retrieved October 5, 2017.
  14. ^ "Festival 2017 Winners". imagineNATIVE Film & Media Arts Festival. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  15. ^ Dillon, Grace (2016). "Indigenous futurisms, bimaashi biidaas mose, flying and walking towards you". Extrapolation. 57 (1/2): 2. doi:10.3828/extr.2016.2. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. ^ Dillon, Grace (2016). "Indigenous futurisms, bimaashi biidaas mose, flying and walking towards you". Extrapolation. 57 (1/2): 2. doi:10.3828/extr.2016.2. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  17. ^ Baudemann, Kristina (January 2016). "Indigenous Futurisms in North American Indigenous Art". Extrapolation. 57 (1–2): 117–150. doi:10.3828/extr.2016.8. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)