Sustaining intangible heritage through video game storytelling - the case of the Sami Game Jam

ABSTRACT

This article explores how game jams, a rapid collaborative game production format, can work to support the revitalisation of Indigenous self-narratives in the context of Sámi culture. The study focuses on the Sami Game Jam, an event designed and carried out in the Northern Finish Sámi community in Utsjoki, in February 2018. Using an ethnographic method including participatory observation, video interviews with Sámi participants, and textual video game analysis, the study first discusses the event design, and how the creation of Sámi themes and priorities created constraints for game design. The variety of themes selected for the jam reflects the diversity of concerns present in contemporary Sámi society, and the need to reflect them in media. Secondly, we address the process of collaborative game development to explore current Sámi experience in a dialogic, open-ended way. Finally, we discuss the games created during the game jam, and how their design translate Sámi themes into playable artefacts. Based on the findings, we conclude how game jamming as a cultural practice can be appropriated for the purpose of sustaining intangible cultural heritage.

KEYWORDS:

• Sámi
• Indigenous studies
• intangible heritage
• game jam
• videogames
• revitalisation

Acknowledgments

The Sami Game Jam event received a grant from the Majaoja foundation and it was also funded by the municipality of Utsjoki, Finnish Game Jam organization, Neogames, Ludocraft, Veikkaus and Fingersoft. We would like to thank the Academy of Finland funded Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies (312395), as well as Aalto University for supporting this research.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Outi Laiti

Outi Laiti is an Indigenous PhD researcher at the University of Lapland. Her field of research is digital games, Indigenous education and computer science, and focus is on Sámi language and culture in computer game software.

Sabine Harrer

Sabine Harrer is a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, University of Tampere. Their research focuses on cultural videogames criticism, HCI and intersectionality and creation-based knowledge making. She is the author of Games and Bereavement (transcript 2018).

Satu Uusiautti

Satu Uusiautti is professor of education, especially educational psychology at the University of Lapland. Her research interests have focused on educational psychology and positive development and human well-being in various contexts, including Indigenous cultures. She has also actively participated in development of Sámi education and pedagogy.

Annakaisa Kultima

Annakaisa Kultima is a postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. Her research has been concentrating on the creative processes of game developers and covered various game design trends as well as game jam cultures.