Faculty Funding Recipients Launch "Gaming Islam" Video Series

The Marty Center is pleased to announce the launch of the Gaming Islam video series, a center-funded research project about representations of Islam in video games. In the eight chapters of this first episode, creators and directors Alireza Doostdar (University of Chicago Divinity School), who is also Faculty Co-Director of the Marty Center, and Ghenwa Hayek (University of Chicago Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations) explore the nuances of “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Infinity Ward 2019).”

“Call of Duty,” one of the most lucrative gaming franchises of all time, is highly influential and is even used in U.S. military recruitment – and yet, the game is problematic in a number of ways, including its superficial portrayal of Middle Eastern politics and culture, which “flattens and conflates all kinds of complexities," Doostdar explained.

Join Doostdar and Hayek in the first episode as they delve into this conversation and the game’s tropes of martyrdom and self-sacrifice, and watch the entire episode here.

Gaming Islam is a multi-part series, with future episodes focusing on adventure, archaeological, and language-based games like “Heaven’s Vault,” “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown,” and “Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.” It reflects Doostdar and Hayek’s expertise on media and cultural productions in and about the Middle East, and their commitment to public scholarship, as well as the Marty Center’s emphasis on multimedia storytelling.