March 28th, April 28th, May 19th, June 9th 2022, 4-6pm (CET)
Towards Anti-Racist Game Development in Europe
a free 4-part workshop series for game developers in Europe
Update: The workshops are fully booked! Sign up to be put on the waiting list.
About the workshop series
Many game studios in Europe and around the world are increasingly invested in diversity and inclusion as part of their mission to create a positive working environment.
However, when it comes to anti-racism, the active confrontation of racist structures and biases, terms like “diversity” and “inclusion” are often not enough to tackle these problems. Even progressive game developers might struggle to:
understand what racial bias is and how it may affect their work
constructively confront racism in their day-to-day creative practice
Towards Anti-Racist Game Development in Europe is a free online workshop series which supports Europe-based professionals in the games industry to get started on their anti-racist journeys. All workshops are facilitated by members of the Anti-Racist Forum Finland and are free. The workshops will use safer space guidelines and are:
Participant led
Interactive and activity-based
Providing room for critical reflection
Focused on concrete applications for game professionals
Workshop goals
1. Raising anti-racist awareness
The workshop series provides personalised input to increase game developers’ awareness around racism, racial bias and structural whiteness in the industry and beyond. The focus is specifically on a European context and caters to professionals who are just getting started on the subject.
2. Providing tools for critical action
The workshop series is designed to provide game developers with custom-tailored tools and resources for a more critical work practice in the games industry. Throughout the series, participants develop tools to be applied in their day-to-day studio setting.
Conditions for participation
The workshops are free of charge. All game developers in Europe are eligible to attend. Please note that:By signing up, you commit to attending all four workshops.Workshop spots are limited and assigned on a first come, first served basisWorkshops take place online and are held in English.
Workshop dates
Workshop 4: Anti-Racist Strategies in Game Development
The focus of the final workshop is most practical and provides tools for individuals and organisations in game development settings to be more anti-racist. The focus is on how anti-racist strategies can work to reach new audiences and markets.
Workshop 3: Race and Power in Game Design
Building on the previous workshops, you will be guided through individual and collective reflections on your role and position within the game development setting. How does it affect creative and professional decision making processes?
Workshop 2: Race and Representation in Games
The second workshop will follow up on the outputs of the first workshop. It addresses the topic of race and representation in games, using concrete examples based on your experiences. We will also tackle the topic of whiteness and how it links to other factors in game design.
Workshop 1: Approaching Racism in Play
This introductory workshop will focus on basics of how racism comes into play in (European) societies more generally and in the games industry in particular. Where does racism in Europe come from? What is structural whiteness? And how does it affect the games industry today?
Sign ups are closed
The Organisers
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Amiirah Salleh-Hoddin
Amiirah Salleh-Hoddin is an anti-racist activist, researcher and educator. She is the Co-Founder and Chair of the Anti-Racist Forum (ARF) in Finland, as well as the current Vice-Chair of the Board of the European Network Against Racism (ENAR). She is working on her doctoral research in sociology at the University of Helsinki, focusing on racial equality issues. Additionally, she has been working as an anti-racist educator and equality trainer in Europe since 2013, and has previous experience working on similar topics in Singapore and Australia. In 2018, the Finnish Church Aid’s Teachers Without Borders Network awarded her the Global Educator of the Year. She was selected to be part of the inaugural cohort of the Obama Foundation’s European Leaders Program in 2020 and is currently a Fellow in Humanity In Action’s Landecker Democracy Fellowship 2021-2022 program.
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Margarita Sakilayan-Latvala
Margarita Sakilayan-Latvala (MSSc., Psy. M) is a senior lecturer on social welfare and services in Diaconia University of Applied Sciences. Her research interests are international migration and integration of migrants, focusing on understanding these themes using critical, feminist, and anti-racist perspectives. She is currently the Vice Chairperson of Anti-Racist Forum and a trustworthy community organizer and influencer in the non-profit sector in Finland.