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Acquisition Disorder

Acquisition Disorder

By: Izzy Bartley
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Acquisition Disorder is a 3-part mini series about board games, museum practice and colonial histories and legacies.


What do two archaeologists think of the game Archaeology, The New Expedition? What can we learn from a curator of Industrial History, and an Indian Professor when they sit down to play Ticket to Ride India together? How does the game Papua reflect past museum practices and colonial violences? A natural science and a community curator spill the beans.


Host Izzy Bartley, researcher at the University of Leeds and Digital Learning Officer at Leeds Museums and Galleries, is joined by special guests to discuss and critique a selected board game, link to related museum artefacts, the stories they hold, and wider histories from Britain’s imperial past.


So join Izzy and their guests as they roll dice, shuffle cards and above all, geek out over great conversations.


This podcast was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/R012733/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities.


Production supported by Research Podcasts.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Izzy Bartley Social Sciences World
Episodes
  • Papua

    Papua
    Feb 18 2026
    Welcome to the Acquisition Disorder podcast, the show where we select a modern board game and use it as a jumping-off point to discuss museum practice, past and present, and colonial histories and legacies. I’m your host, Izzy Bartley, and in our final episode, we’re joining a 19th-century jungle expedition and exploring the practices and ethics of historical natural science collecting and what it feels like to play the colonial explorer.How does the game Papua reflect past museum practices and colonial violences? To help me unpick these themes, I’m joined by two colleagues from Leeds Museums and Galleries: Clare Brown, Curator of Natural Sciences, Community Curator Rathi Tamilselven.In this episode, we discuss:Pith Helmets and Pastiche: An analysis of the game’s cover art and the tropes that rely on outdated, Eurocentric representations of both explorers and Indigenous Papuan people.The "White Man" Default: A conversation on the lack of diversity in the board game industry, the experience of being forced to play through a White male lens and inauthentic representations.The Price of Prestige: How the 19th-century "man of science" used expeditions to the "wilds of the Empire" to prove their worth and standing in cities like Leeds.Bidding on People: A critical look at the inclusion of "tribe cards" in the game, the bidding and scoring mechanisms which assign equal value to Indigenous people, beetles and birds, and the history of western museums collecting human remains.Knowledge Extraction: How local "Indigenous knowledge" is only valued once it’s been elevated to "Western science".The "Leeds Tiger": The fascinating and problematic history of one of Leeds’ most famous museum objects—from its origin as a 19th-century hunting trophy to its modern role as a tool for discussing Empire and species conservation.From Hunting to Conservation: How modern museum ethics and the Nagoya Protocol have transformed the way we collect and protect biodiversity today.So join us as we roll dice, shuffle cards and above all, geek out over great conversations.References and further readingYou can read a transcript of this conversation here and see the board game Papua here.Papua (game) on BoardGameGeek Edward Said, Orientalism (book)Retribution by Edward Armitage (painting, can be seen in Leeds Art Gallery)Wellcome Collection (museum)Leeds Discovery Centre (museum)Nagoya Protocol (legal framework)Why is Board Gaming so White and Male? (article)Production Credits: This podcast was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/R012733/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities. This production was supported by Research Podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    41 mins
  • Ticket to Ride: India

    Ticket to Ride: India
    Feb 18 2026
    Welcome to the Acquisition Disorder podcast, the show where we select a modern board game and use it as a jumping-off point to discuss museum practice, past and present, and colonial histories and legacies. I’m your host, Izzy Bartley, and in this episode, we are looking at the tracks of history through the lens of one of the world's most popular board game franchises.What can we learn from John McGoldrick, Curator of Industrial History at Leeds Museums and Galleries and Poonam Sharma, a researcher at the University of Leeds and former Assistant Professor at the University of Delhi when we sit down to play Ticket to Ride: India together? In this episode, we discuss:The Railway as a Tool of Empire: How the construction of the Indian railway was designed for the extraction of natural resources and the movement of British troops, rather than for the benefit of the Indian population.From First Class to Freight Carriages: The differences in the experience of train travel in colonial India for White British and Indian travellers in a system built on racism. A Prince, an Elephant and the Taj Mahal: An analysis of the game's cover art, which features stereotyped, western representations of India and Indian people.Tiger Tragedy: How the shooting of tigers by British army officers destroyed their populations and was used to assert control over local people.Building Railways in India, Building Wealth in Leeds: The links between locomotive manufacturing in Leeds, political power and generating wealth in the city.So join us as we roll dice, shuffle cards and above all, geek out over great conversations.References and further readingYou can read a transcript of this conversation here and see the board game Ticket to Ride - India here.Ticket to Ride: India and Switzerland (game) on BoardGameGeek Illusions of empire: Amartya Sen on what British rule really did for India (article)Shashi Tharoor, Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India (book)Satnam Sanghera, Empireland: How Imperialism has Shaped Modern Britain (book)How to Academy with Satnam Sanghera, 16th January 2024 (podcast)Yorkshire Film Archive of Hunslet Locomotive CompanyRetribution - a painting depicting Britain subduing the Indian war for independence, called mutiny in Britain (painting, can be seen in Leeds Art Gallery)Production Credits: This podcast was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/R012733/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities. This production was supported by Research Podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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    45 mins
  • Archaeology: The New Expedition

    Archaeology: The New Expedition
    Feb 18 2026
    Welcome to the Acquisition Disorder podcast, the show where we select a modern board game and use it as a jumping-off point to discuss museum practice, past and present, and colonial histories and legacies. In this first episode of our three-part series, we are digging deep into the popular tropes and (sometimes uncomfortable) realities of the archaeological world.What happens when you ask two professional archaeologists to play a game about finding ancient Egyptian “treasure"? Join host Izzy Bartley as she sits down with Kat Baxter, Curator of Archaeology at Leeds Museums and Galleries, and Nura Hassan, a bioarchaeologist specialising in East African pre-colonial history, to critique the hit game Archaeology: The New Expedition.In this episode, we discuss:The "Indiana Jones" Problem: How the game’s artwork and mechanisms perpetuate the colonial "White man explorer" trope and the image of the archaeologist as a "heroic" tomb robber.The Real Thief: A critical look at the choices made in how the thief and the player’s character are illustrated in the game, and the messaging these communicate.The Value of a Scrap: Why the word "treasure" is problematic and how seemingly mundane items like pottery shards or papyrus scraps often hold the most historical significance.People are not Objects: The evolving language of museums, the move away from the word "mummy," and the importance of restoring personhood to human remains.Repatriation and "Levels of Care": A candid conversation on the ethics of returning artefacts to their countries or communities of origin, and the myth that Western museums are the safest place for global history.So, grab your trowel and join us as we roll dice, shuffle cards, and geek out over great conversationsReferences and further readingYou can read a transcript of this conversation here and see the board game Archaeology: The New Expedition here.Archaeology: The New Expedition (game) on BoardGameGeekPortable Antiquities SchemeSutton Hoo (archaeological site)Kirkstall Abbey (museum)The Treasure Act 1996 (UK legislation)Jason Perez’s channel ‘Shelf Stories’ (YouTube)Why is Board Gaming so White and Male? (article)Using the term ‘mummified remains’ over ‘mummy’ (article)Production Credits: This podcast was supported by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/R012733/1) through the White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities. This production was supported by Research Podcasts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
    Show More Show Less
    46 mins
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