Inuit

• The death of Klaus Teuber, creator of popular board game Catan, marked the passing of a board game giant.
• The German-born dental technician-turned-game designer invented the game, originally called Settlers of Catan, in 1995 while managing a dental lab.
• That same year Catan won one of board gaming’s most prestigious awards, the German Spiel des Jahres.

Settler colonialism

In interviews, Teuber said he started creating games in the 1980s to help deal with the stress of his dental career. “I developed games to escape,” he said. “This was my own world I created.” The Settlers of Catan — renamed Catan in 2015 — wasn’t really Teuber’s own world, it was a playable version of the American dream.

• As historian Lorenzo Veracini says, “the Settlers of Catan is really about settler colonialism.” The success of Catan also codified a certain kind of game play that has similarly proliferated worldwide, one that’s invested in the specific historical, economic and political factors of settler colonialism.
• The Settlers of Catan was not the first time a board game touched on colonial or imperialist discourses.
• However, because players in Catan explicitly take on the roles of settlers, this particular board game’s engagement in the rhetoric of settler colonialism set new precedents.

Decolonizing gameplay

• In these games, Indigenous identity, history, culture and sovereignty emerge as essential elements of world-building and game mechanics.
• Board game designer and Assistant Professor of Interactive Media Greg Loring-Albright has shown with First Nations of Catan that it is possible to modify and decolonize gameplay by drawing attention to issues of Indigenous sovereignty.
• Another excellent example of this is Sínulkhay and Ladders by Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee, a Squamish decolonizing facilitator, creative director and Indigenous changemaker.

Biz Nijdam does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• OTTAWA, ON, Nov. 18, 2023 /CNW/ - Kablusiak is the grand winner of the $100,000 2023 Sobey Art Award , Canada's preeminent prize for contemporary visual arts.
• "On behalf of the Board of the Sobey Art Foundation, our warmest congratulations to Kablusiak, the winner of the 2023 Sobey Art Award," said Bernard Doucet, Executive Director, Sobey Art Foundation (SAF).
• This opportunity allows so many doors to open and I am grateful for every moment," said Kablusiak, winner of the 2023 Sobey Art Award.
• Powerful works by all of the 2023 Sobey Art Award finalists are currently on view at the Gallery.

• OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 28, 2023 /CNW/ - At a gala dinner in Ottawa, the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) awarded the CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS), John Geiger the RCA medal, its highest honor.
• Founded in 1880, the Royal Academy of Arts represents over 700 established Canadians artists and designers.
• "The Indigenous People's Atlas of Canada came to our attention at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and we understood the significance of its publication," said Robert Tombs, President of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
• "We have gotten to know John Geiger over his many years of leadership of the RCGS and Canadian Geographic and wanted to honour him for his achievement."

• The ruling comes after a group of Indigenous women known as the Mohawk Mothers called for an emergency court hearing to halt excavations at the site.
• In October 2022, the Mohawk Mothers obtained a temporary injunction against McGill to stop any excavations.
• In April, Québec’s Superior Court approved a settlement allowing the Mohawk Mothers to investigate unmarked graves at the site.
• Read more:
  Inside the search for the unmarked graves of children lost to Indian Residential Schools — Podcast

Defining mapping

• McGill’s lawyer argued that mapping means making a map with points or zones where different archaeological techniques should be applied to find human remains.
• When all the zones were drawn, the panel could be disbanded because the mapping was over.
• This interpretation distorts and extensively simplifies the process of mapping the unmarked graves of children.
• It reduces mapping to a mere checklist item, detached from the ever-changing reality on the ground.
• While this initial mapping serves as a starting point, the panel should remain involved as the map evolves.

Colonial vs. decolonial perspectives

• Observing the courtroom proceedings, I was struck by the enduring presence of colonial assumptions about cartography.
• Indigenous communities continue having to advocate for and defend their cartographic methods in order to uphold their connections and duties to the land.
• A truly decolonial mapping project centres and respects Indigenous geographical knowledge and protocols, and includes involvement of Indigenous communities in the process.