Research in focus: Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam

Name:

Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam

My pronouns:

she/her

Title:

Assistant Professor of Teaching

Faculty/Department/Unit:

Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies, Faculty of Arts

Location:

Vancouver

Year I started working at UBC:

2019

Provide an overview of your research in 75 words or less:

Board games, such as Risk and Settlers of Catan, that incorporate colonial strategies into their game mechanics or colonial histories into their worldbuilding, normalize these discourses through their status as a popular pastime. “Games for Decolonization” thus explores how critical board game modification and critical board game development can undermine these processes to become valuable tools to decolonize teaching and learning in educational and community settings.

What do you hope will change as a result of this research?

Despite board game culture’s demonstrated engagement in varied discourses of colonialism, board games are rarely a source for teaching and learning on decolonization. Moreover, there is a lack of research on the role and benefit of games in traditional and contemporary Indigenous education and knowledge-keeping traditions that might be drawn upon to intervene in discourses of colonialism spread through board game culture. I hope my project changes perceptions of games and their role in teaching.

Are there any research collaborators you'd like to acknowledge and why?

I am collaborating with Markus Hallensleben (CENES), Indigenous board game consultant David Plamondon (Cree), and tarot diviner and decolonizing educator Christopher Marmolejo on this project to evaluate what role board games might play in illuminating the complex relationships between discourses of Indigeneity, settler colonialism and migration to develop board games on these themes.

Describe any interesting research milestones you are approaching

“Tarot Cards for Decolonization” will adapt the mechanics of tarot cards to foster dialogue on settler colonialism through terminology and imagery that thematizes Indigenous and settler relationships to land, history, and sovereignty. Moving away from the occult associations of this activity, our project positions the methodological practice of reading tarot cards as an opportunity to cultivate relational and dialogic understanding that emerges through a storytelling engagement with decolonial themes.

Learn more:

The Games for Decolonization project hosted its first event on Mar. 22, 2024, featuring settler and Indigenous speakers discussing the role of board games and tarot in the work of decolonization. These speakers will continue exploring these intersections in the 2024-25 Games for Decolonization Symposium.

• Learn more about Games for Decolonization
• Read Dr. Nijdam’s article in The Conversation, which examines the connection between discourses of colonialism and the history of board games
• Find out about upcoming Pop Culture for Social Change events by emailing comics.studies@ubc.ca