The 59th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association

Abstract

Paper Title: Classroom in the Ludic Age: Teaching Islamic Art with Video Games

Date
Nov 23, 2025
Location
Washington, D.C.
Bihter Esener
Bihter Esener
Assistant Professor of Islamic Art and Medieval Mediterranean

I am an art historian of the visual and material cultures of the medieval Islamic world, with a special interest in Armenian, Byzantine, and Persian-Islamic artistic exchange and cultural encounters in medieval Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and the Eastern Mediterranean. I teach Islamic art and medieval Mediterranean in the Department of Art History at Northwestern University. My research interests encompass the collection and display of Islamic art in the modern period, sports history, environmental studies, digital art history, and historical game studies.