Akil Fletcher is an anthropologist researching race and video games at Princeton University. His work intersects the fields of Anthropology, African American Studies, and Game Studies. Dr. Fletcher earned his B.A. in Anthropology from the City College of New York and his Ph.D. in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of California, Irvine. Fletcher is the recipient of multiple awards and grants, such as the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, the Nation Science Foundation Dissertation Research Grant, and the UCI President’s Fellowship.
His research examines how Black individuals create identity, community, and alternative forms of play and being within online games and gaming spaces. Using his expertise, Fletcher has authored multiple pieces on the Black experience in video games and has developed community-driven initiatives, such as Camp Kiki, a youth esports initiative, to teach about the possibilities for games and community. In his dissertation, "Playing in Color: An Exploration of Black Gaming Communities and Practices,” Fletcher examines how online Black communities use digital platforms to form selfhood and relationships in gaming spaces while circumventing forms of racism and anti-Blackness in games like Final Fantasy XIV and communication platforms like Discord. Currently, Fletcher is developing his book project, Playing in Color: How Black Gamers Build Worlds, which engages with how Black gamers use gaming technologies to imagine new worlds of play within pre-established game worlds.