Video Games as Gendered Heritage: How Gender Dynamics Shape our Experience of Cultural Heritage

History@Play lecture by Prof. Marion Coville, Université de Poitiers

Since the 2010s, video games have increasingly been framed as cultural heritage: celebration of well-known creators, publication of designers’ biographies, books retracing iconic sagas. Video games have also entered museums and exhibitions, where they are presented as newcomers to cultural heritage. Drawing on an ethnographic study conducted behind the scenes of one such exhibition, this talk explores the processes through which video games are turned into heritage, and the ways in which gender dynamics shape these activities.

About the speaker

Marion Coville is an Associate Professor in Information and Communication Sciences at the Université de Poitiers, France. Their research investigates how gender and technology intersect, with a particular focus on the ways digital environments shape and are shaped by gendered identities and practices. As co-founder of the “Queer Games” workshop and former member of the queer and feminist hackerspace Le Reset (2015–2020), they have been actively engaged in creating spaces for critical reflection on inclusivity, representation, and activism within technological and gaming cultures. They currently lead the research project Blood and Data Flows: Menstrual Cycle Tracking Technologies (MenstruTECH), which examines the social, political, and ethical implications of menstrual tracking technologies in contemporary digital life.

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