UBC Pop Culture Cluster

The Pop Culture Cluster supports academic and public-facing scholarship on popular media and popular culture at UBC.

The UBC Pop Culture Cluster is located at UBC Vancouver, which is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. The land it is situated on has always been a place of learning for the Musqueam, who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next on this site.

News

Sep 23, 2026

Call for Lightning Talk Presenters

Critical Play for Climate Change: Symposium + Game Jam Thursday–Friday, October 22–23, 2026 Research Commons, UBC Library The Critical Play for Climate Change Symposium + Game Jam invites UBC researchers working on climate-related questions to give a short 8–10-minute lightning talk introducing an aspect of their research that participants can explore through game design. This […]

Announcements

Sep 15, 2026

Call for Critical Play Fellows

We are excited to announce the second annual call for the Critical Play Lab’s Fellowship Program for the 2026-2027 academic year! We invite applications from graduate students, faculty, game designers/developers (digital and analog), educators, and community members to create and convene a local games-based community-of-practice rooted in critical play. Apply by Sept 21.

Announcements

Sep 14, 2026

Homalco Heroes: Tribal Journey graphic novel project takes to the water

This summer, Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) Heroes: Tribal Journey moved from the drawing board to the water (and back again!). The second Indigenous Comics Initiative project with the Xwémalhkwu (Homalco) First Nation is taking shape through a very different kind of research process: participation. Over the summer, lead comics artist Valen Onstine and co-artist Waylon Asp, joined […]

Comics Studies, Indigenous Comics Initiatives, News

UBC Comics Studies Cluster Documentary Selected for Miccosukee Indigenous Film Festival

A documentary film produced through the UBC Comics Studies Cluster’s Turtle Island Research Cluster has been selected for the inaugural Miccosukee Indigenous Film Festival, taking place October 9–12, 2026, in Miami, Florida. Kokum Dorothy’s Story: We Can Still Sing and Dance, directed by Andy Rutter, documents the development of a graphic novel created by Cree […]

Comics Studies, News, Turtle Island Cluster

Upcoming Events

• Oct 2nd

  2026

  Critical Play Fellows Launch

  3:00 pm

• Oct 5th

  2026

  Video Game Making Workshop with Xaytun Ennasr

  2:30 pm

• Oct 22nd

  2026

  Critical Play for Climate Change: Symposium + Game Jam

  2:00 pm

• Nov 3rd

  2026

  Pedagogies of Play

  5:00 pm

• Jan 19th

  2027

  Metagames

  5:00 pm