Paper Short Abstract:

The paper reflects on experiences in using ludic approaches to anthropology in classrooms by playing, modding and hacking boardgames and by supervising students in using AI to develop TTRPG games to break epistemic logocentricity.

Paper Abstract:

Teaching anthropology to undergraduate students we often rely heavily on logocentric practices: reading texts, writing essays or reading responses, discussing and debating emerging topics in class. In two recent anthropology seminars, I have tried to break these traditions with epistemic disobedience and playfulness. I have made use of ludic approaches to anthropology by playing, modding and hacking boardgames dealing with anthropological topics (such as (neo)colonialism, politics, gender) and by supervising students in developing TTRPG games dealing with anthropological method and representation (making use of game-based story-telling). As part of our efforts to understand anthropology as playful and through play we have also intensely used AI (in particular Notebooklm) in the making of games based on academic texts. In my talk I will present the outcomes of these supervised student experiments with AI, reflect upon how we can use (or misuse) AI in order to break epistemic logocentricity and the gain and risks of playing with science in such a way. I will also use the case do discuss the thorny question of authorship, collaboration and co-participation in making use of AI in classrooms and in ethnography.