Introduction: A Memoir Grounded in Play
Kawika Guillermo’s memoir Of Floating Isles situates itself at the intersection of personal memory, video game culture, and critical theory. Placed in a framing that resembles a psychological horror game, The Path, the book invites readers to wander rather than win, to confront and remember rather than conquer. Guillermo uses the format of a linear personal narrative to reveal how intersecting identities are shaped under colonial power structures, with video games serving as both refuge and instrument for self-discovery.
The Path, a subversive tale of Little Red Riding Hood, appears as more than a metaphor in Guillermo’s writing. It is a guide to the moral and existential terrain of growing up different, where keeping to the path becomes a chosen struggle and the true journey lies in wandering toward self-knowledge.
From Portland to Global Contexts: A Personal and Cultural Odyssey
Growing up in Portland, Oregon, Guillermo was one of few people of color in a predominantly white neighborhood. Video games became a coping mechanism for alienation and a way to imagine alternative worlds. By casting classic platformers like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog as metaphors for adolescence, Guillermo reframes escapism as a productive space for inquiry into identity, belonging, and power. As Guillermo writes, our “floating isles” allowed them to shape myth and imagination while keeping the ground voices of others visible, even if distant.
Global Perspectives: Games as Radical Cultural Production
The memoir expands its scope through Guillermo’s travels across the United States and Asia after high school. Encounters with gamers in different cultural contexts reveal a broader truth: video games have long been a radical, global medium. In China, where gaming was once restricted, Guillermo finds communities that show how games operate as a form of cultural resistance and social connection. The author notes that, beyond Western myths, gaming is a shared language among non-Western players who use it to challenge dominant narratives about race, value, and power.
Teaching, Research, and the Politics of Gaming
Today, Guillermo teaches in the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia. Their courses investigate how video games function as producers of knowledge and culture, offering students a framework to study games as social artifacts rather than mere entertainment. Of Floating Isles thus serves a dual function: a memoir for readers seeking intimate insights into a life lived at the margins, and a scholarly text for those who want to understand how games shape ideas about identity and society.
Gamer Anger, Moral Panic, and Critical Reading
The memoir also critiques mainstream narratives that portray video games as harmful to youth. Guillermo deconstructs the notion of “gamer anger” as a moral panic linked to violence, showing how stereotypes pathologize young men’s emotions while obscuring the structural injustices that provoke anger. The book argues that anger is a rational response to social injustice, war, and violence, reframed through the lens of the medium itself. As Guillermo told The Ubyssey, a deeper understanding of games can prepare readers to imagine new ways of thinking about identity and race.
Grief, Memory, and the Spiritual Power of Narrative
Death is a recurring motif in Of Floating Isles. Guillermo links personal loss — from a first girlfriend to a late spouse — with how grief can be interpreted through games like Final Fantasy VII and Subnautica. Rather than seeing loss as a rupture, the memoir suggests it opens a channel for empathy and understanding. The idea that grief expands “the arteries of love” resonates across the book, inviting readers to find connection through shared experiences of loss and resilience.
Upcoming Works and Public Engagements
Guillermo remains an active voice in discourse on games, identity, and justice. They are scheduled to discuss Of Floating Isles at the Vancouver Public Library on Nov. 5, and a forthcoming book titled Domesticating Brown, published under their patrilineal name Christopher Patterson, will apply critical race theory to art, technology, and colonialism. These projects promise to extend the conversation about how games shape cultural and personal narratives.
Conclusion: A Lived Theory of Play
Of Floating Isles is more than a memoir; it is a sustained argument that games are potent sites for self-knowledge and social critique. Guillermo’s work invites readers to reflect on their own paths, to question the maps they follow, and to recognize the floating isles we all inhabit as we navigate a world shaped by power, memory, and imagination.
