Re-writing histories of colonization in video games: the case of Elizabeth LaPensée

• Published in: Images. The International Journal of European Film, Performing Arts and Audiovisual Communication
• Main Authors: Nacher , Anna, Jankowski, Filip
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan 2021
• Subjects: Elizabeth LaPensée; indigenous digital culture; indigenous video games; decolonization; Ojibwe; anishina*
• Online Access: http://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/i/article/view/29832

The article is aimed at presentation of the case study in video games creation by Indigenous auteur and designer, Elizabeth LaPensée, which at the same time demonstrates how video games can both mediatize the process of re-writing history and decolonize popular imagination. The analysis of LaPensée’s three games: Invaders, Thunderbird Strikes, and When the Rivers Were Trails to some extent follows her own strategies of self-identification as Anishinabee (Ojibwe). Drawing upon reconfiguration of the auteur theory and the framework of ludostylistics by Astrid Ensslin, we also strive to demonstrate how the notion of a singular author is in fact grounded in collective and collaborative qualities of indigenous digital culture, including digital game design. The article is aimed at presentation of the case study in video games creation by Indigenous auteur and designer, Elizabeth LaPensée, which at the same time demonstrates how video games can both mediatize the process of re-writing history and decolonize popular imagination. The analysis of LaPensée’s three games: Invaders, Thunderbird Strikes, and When the Rivers Were Trails to some extent follows her own strategies of self-identification as Anishinabee (Ojibwe). Drawing upon reconfiguration of the auteur theory and the framework of ludostylistics by Astrid Ensslin, we also strive to demonstrate how the notion of a singular author is in fact grounded in collective and collaborative qualities of indigenous digital culture, including digital game design.