Sami-digital storytelling: Survivance and revitalization in Indigenous digital games

Abstract

This article examines how digital games on Sami culture can draw attention to Indigenous issues when produced in collaboration with Sami community members. Through a case study that probes the design, game mechanics, and user experience of Gufihtara eallu (2018), this article frames Indigenous digital games and game development as a form of digital storytelling that is able to educate players on Indigenous knowledge systems and intangble cultural heritage. By looking at the way Gufihtara eallu engages Sami oral traditions in particular, this article demonstrates how digital games are capable of embodying Indigenous methodologies in such a way as to not flatten understandings of Indigenous traditions to a mythologized historical moment; instead, games produced by and for Indigenous people are capable of presenting storytelling traditions as contemporary, interactive, and constantly evolving, incorporating traditional themes as much as contemporary issues that are being perpetually redefined by modern Sami experience and new technologies.

Teachers' Technology-Enhanced Remote Teaching Competency in an Arctic Ubiquitous Pedagogical Context

“…At the same time, the findings raise the question of educational equality (see also Olofsson et al, 2019). In the Sámi context, this is particularly significant, as language is a significant pillar in the maintenance of Indigenous culture and society (see also Aikio-Puoskari, 2018;Smed Olsen et al, 2020), pointing to the importance of revitalization of endangered languages so that educational equality can be achieved (Nijdam, 2021;Outakoski, 2021;Raheja, 2017;Sam et al, 2021).…”

Exploring the Use of Minecraft in Sámi Teacher Education

“…Indigenous game development can place Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices in the centre (Nijdam 2022(Nijdam , 2023 and 'be dynamic sovereign spaces for Indigenous representation and expression when the self-determination of Indigenous people is supported' (LaPensée et al 2022). As demonstrated by Laiti (2021) and Nijdam (2023), digital games and game design can embody Indigenous methodologies.…”

Indigenous storytelling and admissibility in common law courts: Developing the protocols for the reception theory of evidence

“…An example is the digitalised Sami-digital storytelling 'that is able to educate players on Indigenous knowledge systems and intangible cultural heritage' This is carried out by a research project entitled 'Gufihtaraeallu' that 'engages Sami oral traditions'. These 'digital games are capable of embodying Indigenous methodologies' in a format that do not encapsulate the insight into 'Indigenous traditions to a mythologized historical moment' but rather serve as a medium 'for Indigenous people' who are deemed 'capable of presenting storytelling traditions as contemporary, interactive, and constantly evolving' and blending the 'traditional themes as much as contemporary issues' with the assistance of modern technology (Nijdam, 2021).…”

“…Moreover, by framing Indigenous digital games and game development as a form of digital storytelling itself that presents players with access to Indigenous traditions and ways of knowing, this demonstrates how digital games are capable of embodying Indigenous systems of knowledge in such a way as to not flatten understandings of Indigenous traditions to a mythologized historical moment; instead, Indigenous games produced by and for Indigenous players present storytelling traditions as contemporary, participatory, and constantly evolving, incorporating traditional themes as much as contemporary issues that are perpetually redefined through the real existing relations between the Sami people and their land both inside and outside of the Sápmi. (Nijdam, 2021) The findings associated with the Sami Game Jam are based on its preamble which is based on the history of the Sami people. 102 The Game Jam demonstrate how Indigenous digital media has the ability to sustain 'a continuation of stories' in the framework of oral testimony that is based on their epistemology (Vizenor, 2009: 1).In developing the concept of digital storytelling 'the political, poetic, visionary, and ironic insights of personal identity and narratives of cultural sovereignty are inclusionary in the episteme of Sami peoples' (Vizenor, 2009).…”