Amanda Cote is Assistant Professor of Media Studies/Game Studies at the University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communication. Her work focuses on the industry and culture of video games, with a particular emphasis on gender, representation, and issues of technological access.

More specifically, Cote draws on critical explorations of industry texts and practices, as well as interviews with female gamers, to explore gaming’s conflicting trends towards greater diversity and greater discrimination. Although the spread of casual, social, and mobile games has led researchers, journalists, and players to believe that video gaming is opening up to previously marginalized audiences, especially women, the past decade has simultaneously seen numerous incidents of game-related racism, sexism, and misogyny. Cote’s work explains how these conflicting narratives can co-exist, as well as how women navigate their contradictions while gaming.

Cote received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 2010 and completed her Ph.D. in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan in 2016. Her first book, Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games, is forthcoming from NYU Press. She has also published articles in Games and Culture, Feminist Media Studies, and edited book collections.

Ph.D., Communication Studies

University of Michigan, 2016

B.A. with Distinction, Media Studies

B.A., Foreign Affairs

University of Virginia, 2010

Key and Recent Publications

Books

• Cote, A. (forthcoming 2020). Gaming Sexism: Gender and Identity in the Era of Casual Video Games. In production with New York University Press.

• Cote, A. (2018). Curate Your Culture: A Call for Social Justice-Oriented Game Development and Community Management. In K. Gray and D. Leonard (Eds.), Woke Gaming: Digital Challenges to Oppression and Social Injustice. University of Washington Press.
• Cote, A. (2018). Writing “Gamers”: The gendered construction of player identity in Nintendo Power magazine. Games and Culture, 13(5), 479-503. doi: 10.1177/1555412015624742
• Cote, A. and Mejeur, C. (2018). Gamers, Gender, and Cruel Optimism: The Limits of Social Identity Constructs in The Guild. Feminist Media Studies, 18(6), 963-978. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2017.1376699
• Cote, A. (2017). “I can defend myself”: Women’s strategies for coping with harassment while gaming online. Games and Culture, 12(2), 136-155. doi: 10.1177/1555412015587603
• Cote, A. and Raz, J. (2015). In-depth interviews for games studies. In P. Lankoski and S. Bjork (Eds.), Game Research Methods: An Overview (pp. 93-116). ETC Press.