Dungeons and dragons: Critical peace praxis at play
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This thesis examines the potential of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) as a new peace method. Using an autoethnographic approach informed by Ganz's (2015) 3-level storytelling method and Haven's (2015) core story components, this exploratory research grounds D&D in PACS literature and theory. While sharing compelling examples of how critical peace skills and critical consciousness development can be facilitated by playing a game of imaginative worldbuilding and creative conflict simulation. This thesis probes D&D's PACS relevance through cultural, educational, play, and identity lenses and explores how D&D can deploy theoretical PACS principles as active, positive peace training. The significance of this study is twofold. First, it lays the groundwork for further research into the positive peace potential of D&D while simultaneously contributing utopian storytelling experiential knowledge to the growing field of PACS literature. Second, it challenges the traditional hegemony of patient hope-sustaining banking education systems of knowledge replication.