What’s unsettling about Catan: How board games uphold colonial narratives
What’s unsettling about Catan: How board games uphold colonial narratives
What’s unsettling about Catan: How board games uphold colonial narratives
By Biz Nijdam
January 29, 2024
Summary
The death of Klaus Teuber, creator of popular board game Catan, marked the passing of a board game giant.
The Settlers of Catan was not the first time a board game touched on colonial or imperialist discourses.
Games that incorporate colonial histories and strategies into their narratives or game mechanic normalize these discourses through their status as a popular pastime.
Since 1995, board games have continued to include themes of settler colonialism, with several games published globally that even concretely engage Indigenous presence during and after their first contact with colonial powers.
At the same time, a small group of Indigenous designers and board game enthusiasts have begun to develop counter-discourses through board game development.
The recent successes of the role-playing game Coyote and Crow, by game designer Connor Alexander, and the board game Nunami, by Inuk graphic designer Thomassie Mangiok, demonstrate that board games can make valuable contributions to Indigenous self-representation in popular culture.
Pe Metawe Games is an Indigenous-owned tabletop board game and roleplaying game store located on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton.
Reference
Nijdam, B. (2024, January 29). What’s unsettling about Catan: How board games uphold colonial narratives. The Conversation. https://theconversation.com/whats-unsettling-about-catan-how-board-games-uphold-colonial-narratives-220459