With great pleasure we welcome Dr. Bo Ruberg, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies, as our newest member of the Department!
Department: Film and Media Studies
Post Date: January 29, 2020News Details
Bo Ruberg is a scholar in queer game studies, with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, and is distinguished by their innovative research, their excellent teaching, and their devoted service. Bo is the author of Video Games Have Always Been Queer (NYU Press, 2019) and co-editor of the book Queer Game Studies (University of Minnesota Press). Bo’s current book The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game-Makers are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games will be published by Duke University Press in 2020.
Bo is broadening the conversation around digital media, expanding our knowledge of the diverse cultures at the heart of technology and the individuals who use it. One of Bo’s key areas of focus is diversity in video games. Bo is a leading figure in the emerging scholarly paradigm known as “queer game studies,” which argues that video games can (and should) be reconsidered through the lens of LGBTQ experience. Since 2013, Bo has been instrumental in organizing the Queerness and Games Conference, an annual event that brings together academics and game developers, fostering community conversations across fields and making space for queer people working in and around games to thrive. “ Historically, video games have been hostile to people who are different or who desire differently,” Bo says. “I am passionate about fighting discrimination and laying claim to the medium of video games—for queer folks, but also for people of color, people with disabilities, and many more who have been marginalized.” Bo’s scholarship is founded on the belief that research and activism go hand-in-hand. Though theory is important to their work, Bo sees their efforts to promote diversity in and through technology as directly related to pressing issues that surround computing today.
You may see Bo in their new office HG 2118 or you may email Bo at bruberg@uci.edu.