MIASU Seminar: Dr Barbara Bodenhorn (University of Cambridge) and Dr Olga Ulturgasheva (University of Manchester)

Rules of Hunting; Rules of Gaming: Eveny Responses to an Inupiaq Video Game with Implications for Learning Strategies with Dr Barbara Bodenhorn and Dr Olga Ulturgasheva

The production of Never Alone (a recent video game incorporating Iñupiaq narrative traditions and aesthetics) is one example of how Arctic peoples use digital technologies to spark young people’s interest in their own knowledge of how to survive in extreme conditions. Using comparative material from game players in Siberia and Alaska, this article explores interfaces between the knowledge needed to play such games and that required for hunting in real time. In both cases, successful participants need to be able to observe behaviour patterns in order to make strategic decisions, but in different ways. In particular, the authors explore how the shifting ground of changing environmental conditions (including animal behaviour) frames Eveny understanding of what their young people need to learn in order to navigate these changes. Drawing on Eveny and Iñuniaq discussions, we suggest that the pedagogical impact of such games is strengthened when combined with face-to-face interactions with local knowledge holders.