Conference Program

This paper proposes game design and testing as a democratizing, intersectional pedagogy through which learners explore the systemic and individual configurations of inequality that shape life in post-migrant societies. In an era marked by growing hostility toward diversity, equity, and inclusion, the paper argues that game design and experimentation cultivate empathy and foster belonging, cooperation, and critical awareness. Drawing on Collins’ (2019) framework of intersectionality as critical social theory, it emphasizes that intersecting identities do not simply add up but overlap in ways that produce qualitatively different experiences of privilege and oppression. Hands-on, participatory methods make this relational understanding visible by showing how power operates through interconnected structures rather than isolated categories.

Building on Wilcox’s (2024) ludic theory of cognition, the paper demonstrates how intersectionality games illuminate the ways in which social position shapes perception, mobility, and possibility. Games allow learners to temporarily inhabit alternative social logics, deepening their understanding of intersectional experiences, particularly when they involve reflexive, cooperative, or role-based elements. As de Castell (2023) argues, ludic epistemology treats play as a legitimate form of knowledge-making; thus, designing intersectionality games becomes a way to experiment with and critically reflect on the power systems that organize social life.

The empirical foundation is a university course in which students prototyped and tested games to make intersectionality accessible to diverse audiences. These games—ranging from board games to obstacle courses—require players to navigate scenarios where multiple disadvantages (such as linguistic exclusion combined with gendered or religious discrimination) overlap, or where hidden privileges shape outcomes. By translating theory into embodied experience, these games reveal how structural barriers and epistemic injustices persist even when legal frameworks proclaim equality, thereby bridging the gap between abstract theory and lived realities.

Analysis of student reflections indicates that gamification facilitated a shift from “visibility” to “reflexivity,” making systemic inequality emotionally tangible and demonstrating that outcomes are not solely the result of individual effort but depend on structural conditions. Participants reported moving away from reductionist understandings of identity, echoing hooks’ (1994) call for engaged pedagogies grounded in lived experience and collective responsibility.

Ultimately, the paper argues that playful, practice-based encounters are essential for cultivating educational environments that are democratic in practice, not merely in principle. Through active engagement with elements of play, learners co‑create and deepen theoretical understanding while developing inclusive, reflexive, and socially just orientations toward the world.