Boardgames as Complex Cultural Artifacts, part II: Research & Sources

When I first came up with the idea that Twilight Struggle could be examined as a complex cultural artifact, I knew that I would need to review some articles on material culture analysis as well as search for any other works that covered the same questions I wanted to research.  Living in Portland, OR, I had access to the library at Portland State University, although I've also found the county library system to be very good as well, in terms of holdings and databases.  The primary advantage to using a university library is that they often have access to a wider selection of journals and more specific books of historical analysis.  Spending a few hours on the library catalogue, searching for both journal articles and books, yielded me a good start to begin my research. 

I knew right away that I would want to read articles by Jules Prown, who pioneered the field of material culture analysis in the 70's.  One of my first assignments in grad school involved using the techniques elaborated by Prown to analyze a famous landmark on the campus and in basketball history- Allen Field House.  With Twilight Struggle, I wanted to use the same techniques to analyze the physical elements of the board game; the box, the board, materials, as well as art and graphics.  Together, these elements create an impression and help guide the viewer to interpret, or decode, the overall message the object projects.  

Having a starting point for the formulation of my methodological approach, I began searching for historians who used Prown's method in their own research.  My purpose was two-fold: first, I wanted to see the development of the theory across the previous two decades and, second, I wanted to review the breadth of objects studied using this theory.  Among the many works to choose from, I selected The Age of the Homespun: Objects and Stories in the Creation of an American Myth by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.  Analyzing several individual objects from the 18th-19th centuries, a women's pocketbook being one example, Ulrich probes the relationship these things held with their owners against the larger backdrop of the 'consumer revolution' then occurring in America.  These artifacts, according to Ulrich, help fill out the complex interweaving of daily life against the flow of historical change.  

There were a few reasons why I selected this work, among others, to read.  To begin, it was of recent publication (2001) and dealt with a topic that correlated with my central research concern, that is how does Twilight Struggle inform the interpretation of the Cold War experience?  It was also immediately available for checkout from the PSU library, a quality that ultimately sealed the deal.  I also checked out some books on the Cold War, particularly ones that dealt with impacts upon American culture and identity.  While these other works together did not directly inform my question on board games, they did provide background on a period I was only lightly familiar with.

While I like to pick up few monographs on the subject i'm writing about, I often don't have time to just sit and carefully read every work I come across.  This is where journal articles become very useful; they are usually around 20-30 pages, contain a concise narrative that is easy to follow all the way through and, in the case of current articles, they present up to date research in the field.  I also 'mine' journal articles footnotes for other relevant reading suggestions.  My search yield around ten articles, I felt, would be of assistance in researching my topic.  Of those, I selected three that possessed research and methods I could use in my own analysis.  

Andy Opel and Jason Smith in "Zootycoon: Capitalism, Nature and the Pursuit of Happiness" discuss the Microsoft game Zootycoon and its presentation of nature in a capitalist framework.  Their thesis argued that placing at the player in a position of manager-in-charge running a Zoo park allowed nature narratives to be placed within a market-based setting and become transformed so that success in the park became the primary pursuit with little regard to impacts made upon the larger ecosystem by player decisions.  Their work looked at the physical materials of the pc game in addition to its actual gameplay elements, providing me with a model on which I could base my own study of Twilight Struggle.    

"The Game Theory Narrative and the Myth of the National Security State" by Steven Belletto analyzed film and literature of the 50's and 60's with regards to their use/critique of the game theory narrative (g.t.n.).  Belletto defined g.t.n. as a "cultural narrative that told the story of game theory's potential to prevent nuclear exchange by conceptualizing the cold war as a game, and by playing this game according specific rational strategies." (333) His analysis reveals another layer to films such as Fail Safe and Dr. Strangelove as media expressions that exemplified both the fear of such rationality and the absurdity game theory inspired rationalizations can amount to, respectively.  As Twilight Struggle uses the Cold War as a central backdrop for its setting with the potential of nuclear war a very real threat to 'ending the game', Belletto's work helped to help frame my own analysis with regards to the creation of narratives produced by playing the game.  

The last article, which on face held the best connection to my research topic, "Puzzling Empire: Early Puzzles and Dissected Maps as Imperial Heuristics" by Megan Norcia provided a conceptual framework from which I could build a deeper analysis into the workings of Twilight Struggle.  I was particularly intrigued with her idea that puzzles and dissected maps could act as a 'rich text' that could be "carefully read as cultural objects of imperial ideology." (2) Norcia based her work on the analysis of several different puzzles and maps made for British children from the late 18th century entering into the 19th century, depicting the United Kingdom and its overseas colonies.  When playing with these puzzles and maps, Norcia argues that children became engaged with narratives infused by imperial constructions that shaped their nationalist consciousness  and imagination of empire.  Having played many games of Twilight Struggle, I fully believed the same process occurs by which a complete session of play presents both players with a condensed historical narrative on the interplay of global powers that, in part, helps interpret the Cold War periods effect on both US/USSR and the world.

Together, the sources described above helped me conceptualize my research question on Twilight Struggle, providing me with ideas and terminology that I could use in interpreting my analysis.  These works spanned several disciplines and covered diverse topics, yet each, in the end, contributed to my greater understanding of the potential for board games to be read as cultural 'rich texts' in their own right.

I know I said I would cover how my analysis of Twilight Struggle incorporated the works of Gramsci, Foucault and Lefebvre, but this post is already growing long and I dared not dive into waters so deep.  Needless to say, each author contributed to my larger understanding of history and our common, shared culture.  I hope to examine their influence more in-depth with later posts.  

Next time I will cover the actual game materials of Twilight Struggle and how they inform my research inquiry.


Note: Part I of this series can be found here.  And here is Part III.