Dr. Biz Nijdam is a 2023 recipient of a Diversity and Inclusion Grant in German Studies from the Waterloo Centre for German Studies for her project “Games for Decolonization,” which explores how board games can be valuable tools in decolonizing teaching and learning in European, German, and Migration Studies.
With systems of governance, mechanisms of oppression, and resource exploitation essential to their rules and narrative elements, there are few cultural spheres more invested in the politics of colonialism than German-style board games. Moreover, the release of The Settlers of Catan in 1995 codified a certain kind of gameplay that is explicitly invested in the specific historical, economic, and political factors of settler colonialism. Selling millions of copies in Germany and beyond, Eurogames quickly drew global attention and have since come to define an essential sector of the international board game market.
Unfortunately, games that incorporate colonialist strategies as their primary game mechanic or colonialist histories as their foundational narrative normalize these discourses through their status as a popular pastime. At the same time, however, these conventions also position board games as uniquely capable of revealing the politics and mechanisms of settler colonialism through their simulation.
“Games for Decolonization” approaches board games as an essential forum for unsettling settler colonialism. In addition to developing pedagogy that incorporates critical boardgame modification into teaching and learning on Indigenous issues, Nijdam and collaborator Markus Hallensleben are partnering with Indigenous board game experts Pe Metawe Consulting to design board games for educating on decolonization, settler colonialism, and the tensions that emerge between Indigenous sovereignty and contemporary immigration/migration.
This project has also been awarded a Seed Grant and Faculty Fellowship from the UBC Public Humanities Hub and a SoTL Seed Grant.
Congratulations Biz!
