
Elizabeth LaPensée
Assistant Professor; Graduate Faculty
She/Her/Hers
Office: CAS 430
Email: odamino@msu.edu
Website: http://www.elizabethlapensee.com/
Research Areas
Design Research, Indigenous Research, Indigenous Methodologies, Indigenous Methods, Game Design, Game Development, Comics, Animation
Profile
Elizabeth LaPensée, Ph.D. is an award-winning designer, writer, artist, and researcher who creates and studies Indigenous-led media such as games and comics. She is Anishinaabe with family from Bay Mills, Métis, and Irish. She is an Assistant Professor of Media & Information and Writing, Rhetoric & American Cultures at Michigan State University and a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow.
Education
Ph.D., Simon Fraser University
Representative Work
LaPensée, Elizabeth and Nichlas Emmons. “When Rivers Were Trails.” Films for the Feminist Classroom. 9.1 (2019).
LaPensée, Elizabeth. “Thunderbird Strike: Survivance in/of an Indigenous Video Game.” Video Game Art Reader. 2.1 (2018): 28-37. Print.
LaPensée, Elizabeth, Lyz Jaakola, Sharon Day, and Margaret Noodin. “Honour Water: Gameplay as a Pathway to Anishinaabe Water Teachings.” Decolonization. (2018): 114-130. Print.
LaPensée, Elizabeth. “Relationality in Indigenous Food and Medicine Games.” Resilience: A Journal of the Environmental Humanities. 4.2-3. (2017): 191-200. Print.
Sample Courses Taught
AIIS 801 Indigenous Theories and Methodologies
MI 831 Theories of Games and Interaction Design
MI 400-Level Game Writing
MI 400-Level Serious Games Design
Research or Academic Affiliations
Advisory Circle Member, Indigenous Screen Office Advisory Circle
Advisory Council Member, Science Gallery Detroit
Social Media
Twitter: @odaminowin