Soraya Murray - "Three Faces of Aveline: an Intersectional Feminist Reading of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation" History of Gender in Games conference 2015

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation (2012) is a stealth, open-world adventure game about chattel slavery. Presenting a rare example of black female multi-dimensional heroine (Aveline de Grandpré), Liberation maximizes game mechanics that directly engage her fraught mobility in public space. Through a close textual reading, with particular focus on Aveline's tripartite identity, I consider the function of shifting significations as a strategy for empowerment. The methodology of this presentation is rooted in a critical cultural studies approach to the analysis of games as nuanced visual expressions capable of shaping, maintaining and potentially contesting power through the politics of identity.