Location: Room BODCa3003, main building, Bodø
Time: September 25th, 14:00 - 15:00
About the lecture:
In November 2023, the Nordic Esports Federation (NEF) was founded as a counterforce to international federations’ perceived lack of democracy and transparency, unethical decisions, and corruption allegations. Representatives of the national esports organisations in the Nordic countries have described the NEF to be firmly founded upon shared values and goals, including promoting gender equality in esports.
In this talk, Usva will describe how Nordic esports federations work to promote gender equality in esports, what are the goals and realities driving these activities, and what kinds of values, tensions, and hopes relate to them. The presentation is based on field work in Nordic esports events, interviews with representatives of Nordic esports organisations, and analysis of public documents and media materials.
About Usva Friman:
Usva Friman is a game and esports culture researcher currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Game Research Lab and the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies at Tampere University, Finland. Her research is focused on topics related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as cultural participation and agency in digital gaming and esports. She explores these topics as experienced by people participating in these cultures – especially as women and representatives of other marginalised participant groups – but also from structural and organisational perspectives. Her aim is to create new, research-based knowledge and practices in close collaboration with stakeholders in the field to initiate positive change.
Usva serves as the President of The Finnish Society for Game Research (the Finnish DiGRA chapter) and a diversity board member for the Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA).
