Serena Abdallah-Robbins

Serena Abdallah-Robbins is a Sociology doctoral student researching how narrative and gameplay mechanics in video games can guide players and creators from trauma and disaster to collaborative social action. She serves as a Security Moderator with Amir Satvat's Games Community, a professional networking server with over 15,000 members dedicated to helping gamers get hired, and as Program Manager of the Jampack Incubator Program with Games for Love, a nonprofit that helps sick and underserved children through the power of gaming.

All of Serena's work boils down to how games can make life better, and what can be done to ensure games - and the communities that form through and around them - do just that.

Education

• MA - Anthropology, George Mason University
• BA - Anthropology, George Mason University

Selected Publications

• Abdallah, Serena. 2025. Review of Anime’s Knowledge Cultures: Geek, Otaku, Zhai by Jinying Li. International Journal of Communication 19:2028-2030. 
• Hughes Rinker, C., Oliver Pelland, and Serena Abdallah. 2017. “Islamic Moral Values and End-of-Life Care: Examining the Intersection of Religious Beliefs and the U.S. Health Care System.” Southern Anthropologist 37(1):26-58.

Courses Taught

• HNRS 260 - Video Games, Psyche, & Society 
  • An original course Serena designed and created to teach students how to critically analyze video games through classical and contemporary theory and modern research to contemplate and understand the impacts games have on the individual and the group, and how gameplay can be considered as a tool for social action. 
• HNRS 110 -  Principles of Research & Inquiry
• COMM 101 - Fundamentals of Communication Lab

Recent Presentations

• Abdallah-Robbins, Serena. 2025. “Balancing Gaming & Mental Wellness” and “Your Network is Your Networth: Relationship Building.” Panelist at the Gen.G Esports Campus Takeover, September 27-29, Arlington, Virginia.  
• Abdallah, Serena. 2025. “The Server-Queue to Anti-Fascism: Video Games as Transnational Revolutionary Spaces.” Paper presented at the Fourth Annual CHR Symposium, April 25, Fairfax, Virginia.  
• Abdallah, Serena. 2024. “Aristotle and the Butterfly Effect: The Power of Choice in Baldur’s Gate 3.” Paper presented at the American Sociological Association Conference, August 12, Montreal, Canada.