Jonathan Rey Lee

B.S. Literature, Harvey Mudd College
Ph.D. Comparative Literature, University of California, Riverside

Teaching

I believe anyone can have a positive, meaningful relationship with writing, but the rigidity of the school system often gets in the way. So, I try to shift our thinking away from assignment-driven school writing towards more audience-driven writing that actively engages with popular media and culture.

To this end, we practice iterative design to experience writing as a journey. We practice workshopping in small groups to experience writing as communal. And we ease anxiety with labor-based grading to experience writing as an ongoing creative process.

Research

I research material play as a distinctive form of media and culture. Because play is an important part of being human, I explore how mass-market play products (especially LEGO and boardgames) weave significant cultural values in and around play.

My book Deconstructing LEGO looks at how the design of LEGO toys materializes an entire worldview about what play is and should be. Far from being abstract, LEGO’s implicit playscripts speak to significant cultural ideals related to suburban life, gender, digitality, media, and even relational attachment. Similarly, my current work considers the ideological dimensions of board-game play, especially how modern game genres have become entangled with implicitly colonialist and capitalist worldviews.

Selected Publications

Deconstructing LEGO can be read online through the UW library site and a full list of my publications can be found on Academia.