Souvik Mukherjee's

research profile

Indian version of ludo painted on a handkerchief (Chamba, Rajasthan) 

I have been researching videogames as an emerging storytelling medium since 2002 and have recently completed my PhD on the subject from Nottingham Trent University, UK. My research examines how videogames relate to canonical ideas of narrative and also how these games inform and challenge current conceptions of technicity, identity and culture, in general. You will find many of my publications online and I welcome your comments.

Hi, I'm Souvik and I like reading games and playing books

Currently, I work as Learning Technology Trainer

in the Educational Development Unit of

Nottingham Trent University and have recently

been seconded to the ‘Champions of Academic

Enterprise’ programme where I am designing a

Masters’ level interdisciplinary course on

videogames.

is to pursue postdoctoral research involving the analysis of paratexts of videogames such as walkthroughs and after-action reports.

Ultimately, I would like to link this up with my eLearning experience to form a more robust understanding and appreciation of game-based learning in academia. Ultimately, my aim is to introduce serious research on videogames in India, where I come from.

My current aim

  In sum, my main research interests are: 

   videogames as narratives

   how contemporary literary theory and film studies link with videogames

  critical analysis of videogame 'paratexts' such as walkthroughs and after-action  reports

   Telos and time in videogame narratives

   videogames as objects of learning and teaching

My publications

Conference Papers

Conference paper at the Digital Game Research Association (DIGRA) conference, Brunel University, London 2009. Topic: Telos, Time and Karma in Videogames. [on my blog Ludus ex]

Conference paper at the ‘Afterlives of Sherlock Holmes’ conference, University of Hull. ‘Under the Mask 2’ Conference in University of Bedfordshire. Co-presented paper on ‘Perceptions of Trauma, Morality and violence in Videogames’. [download] Co-organised and presented at PKD-Day 3, third annual conference in celebration of the life and works of Philip K. Dick hosted in Nottingham Trent University. [slideshow] Conference paper presented at the Otto Von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany. Topic: Identity and Subject(s) in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R Games [slideshow] Guest lecture on videogames in South East Asia for postgraduate students in Nottingham Trent University. 'Egoshooting', conference paper on videogames and identity in the LINK Conference at NTU. ‘I Am a Paddle, I Am a STALKER, I Am a Game’: paper presented at the ‘Under the Mask’ conference at the University of Bedfordshire, Luton. [read]

‘Gameplay in the Zone of Becoming’: paper presented at the Games and Philosophy Conference in the University of Potsdam. [download] [read the full conference proceedings] Paper on endings in computer games at the Computer Games Conference, Brunel University, West London.

‘Playing Games with Empathy’, presented at PKD-Day, Nottingham Trent University. Computer games and Through the Looking-Glass, presented at the Brown Bag Seminar, Nottingham Trent University. Research Practice Course presentation at Nottingham Trent University

‘Poetic Programming to Computers in the Romantic Age’ at the Centre for Studies in Romantic Literature, Calcutta

‘And Alice Played a Videogame’, paper on videogames and narratives, UGC Research Seminar at Jadavpur University, Calcutta. [read] ‘Prufrock and the Outsider’, T.S. Eliot Conference at Jadavpur University, Calcutta. [read]

Besides my research and e-Learning job, I am interested in a wide range of things.

I work as a part-time web-designer and coordinate the web activities of the academic journal Theory, Culture & Society. I have also fully designed the journal’s website.

I have taught English Literature in universities and schools in the UK and India.

In India, I worked in Tata Interactive Systems where I designed content and also in Exide Industries Ltd, where I worked in corporate communications

I like writing and have worked in various English dailies in Calcutta as a freelance journalist.

In my spare time, I like playing videogames, watching movies and reading

I also write poetry and paint.

You can read my full CV here or check out my LinkedIn profile.

 Thank you for your interest.

Indian version of ludo painted on a handkerchief (Chamba, Rajasthan)