{"id":947,"date":"2025-01-16T14:28:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T14:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikepiero.org\/?page_id=947"},"modified":"2026-06-20T16:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T16:13:01","slug":"scholarship","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mikepiero.org\/index.php\/scholarship\/","title":{"rendered":"Scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr. Mike Piero’s research<\/a> traverses the fields of game studies, cultural theory, (post)modernist literature, and American culture. More specifically, Dr. Piero studies how popular forms like the video game medium, film, VR narratives, and literature encode complex ideologies surrounding gender, sexuality, race, power, and class. In drawing out the philosophical ideas and social realities that underwrite popular media and literary fiction alike, Dr. Piero considers how images, narratives, and mechanics persuade us about ourselves, society, and others. Additionally, he occasionally publishes articles related to the art and realities of teaching, especially during fraught times when educators are under political attack. He also publishes popular nonfictions, including book reviews, editorials, and games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A Far Cry from Greatness: Christian Fundamentalism, Liberty Porn, and the ‘Good People’ of Trump’s America in Far Cry 5<\/em>.”<\/a> European Journal of American Culture<\/em>, vol. 43, no. 2, 2024, pp. 109-125.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Leveling Up Honors Education: Video Game Analysis in the Honors Classroom,”<\/a> Advancing Honors Education for Today and Tomorrow<\/em>, edited by Graeme Harper, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024, pp. 77-92.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Turnt, Trippy, and Tipsy: Video Games, Drugs, and Allo-Ludic Play,”<\/a> Anglica Wratislaviensia<\/em>, special issue “American Culture in Games and Game Studies,” edited by Agata Zarzycka, vol. 61, no. 2, 2023, pp. 61-76.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Video Game Chronotopes and Social Justice: Playing on the Threshold<\/em><\/a>. Palgrave Macmillan, Games in Context Series, 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Post-COVID Pedagogy and Ethics: A Call to Teach the Banality of Evil.”<\/a> CEA Mid-Atlantic Review<\/em>, vol. 29, 2021, pp. 39-51.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Gaming under Biopolitical Sovereign Power: The Chronotope of the Abject in The Binding of Isaac<\/em>.”<\/a> Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture<\/em>, vol. 11, no. 1, 2020, pp. 55-70.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/a><\/em>, edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette, McFarland, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIntroduction: Skyrim <\/em>as an Exemplary Game Text,\u201d with Marc A. Ouellette. Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/a><\/em>, edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette, McFarland, 2021, pp. 1-11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPortraits of the Neomedieval Family-Idyllic: Patriarchal Oikos <\/em>and a Love without Love in Skyrim<\/em>\u201d with Marc A. Ouellette, Being Dragonborn: Critical Essays on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim<\/a><\/em>, edited by Mike Piero and Marc A. Ouellette, McFarland, 2021, pp. 120-136.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs <\/em>in Print and Film: Imaginations, Catastrophes, and the Being with of Being.”<\/a> The Popular Culture Studies Journal<\/em>, vol. 7, no. 1, 2019. pp. 104-124.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDialogical Numbers: Counting Humanimal Pain in J.M. Coetzee\u2019s Elizabeth Costello<\/em>.\u201d<\/a> Transnational Literature<\/em>, vol. 11, no. 1, 2018, pp. 1-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEngaging Diverse Communities and Student Populations with Video Games: a Community College Perspective.\u201d<\/a> MediaCommons Field Guide<\/em>. December 18, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

English 1020: College Composition II<\/em>. OER Textbook for College Composition II co-written with Tri-C Westshore\u2019s English Department for free electronic distribution, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in Print and Film: Technology, Imagination, and the Networked Catastrophe.\u201d<\/a> MediaCommons Field Guide<\/em>. December 3, 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCoetzee, Blanchot, and the Work of Writing: The Impersonality of Childhood.\u201d<\/a> MediaTropes<\/em>, vol. 4, no. 2, 2014, pp. 79-97.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBook Review of Communal Modernisms: Teaching Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture in the Twenty-First Century Classroom<\/em>\u201d Teaching English in the Two-Year College<\/em>, vol. 42, no. 1, 2014, pp. 96-98.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWilde Expectations\u201d What Philosophy Can Tell You About Your Lover<\/em>, edited by Sharon Kaye, Open Court, 2012, pp. 95-103.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHappiness, Dexter Style\u201d Dexter and Philosophy<\/em>, edited by Richard Greene, George Reisch, and Rachel Robinson, Pop Culture and Philosophy Series, Open Court, 2011, pp. 219-227.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Writing J. M. Coetzee: Summertime<\/em>, Auto\/Biography, and the Resistance to Being Written.” MA Essay, John Carroll University, May 2011, doi: 10.13140\/RG.2.2.29585.76644<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POPULAR NONFICTION, BOOK REVIEWS, GAMES, AND EDITORIALS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scroll of Peace: An MLA TTRPG<\/em>, co-created with Garrett Munro, Summer 2026, Educational tabletop role-playing game<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book Review of Sunset at Zero Point<\/em> by Simon St\u00e5lenhag, Rain Taxi Review of Books<\/em>, 31.2, Summer 2026, https:\/\/raintaxi.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Book Review of The Height of Land<\/em> by M. C. Benner-Dixon, Rain Taxi Review of Books<\/em>, 30.3, Fall 2025 Print Edition, https:\/\/raintaxi.com\/<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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