To reclaim the voice - Inuit representation in the video game Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)
Author
Ludwik, Magdalena
Term
4. term
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-05-05
Pages
62
Abstract
Specialet undersøger, hvordan computerspillet Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) fungerer som en stemme for Inuit – nærmere bestemt Inupiat i Alaska – ved at formidle kultur, værdier og identitet gennem spilmediet. Med afsæt i en kvalitativ tilgang og narrative game design-analysen kombineres visuel semiotik (Roland Barthes), procedurel retorik (Ian Bogost) og fortælling (Henry Jenkins), forankret i Stuart Halls begreb om kulturel repræsentation og Homi K. Bhabhas ‘third space’. Analysen fokuserer på tre niveauer – det visuelle udtryk, spilmekanikker og den overordnede fortælling – og viser, at samarbejde, fællesskab, respekt for naturen, harmoni og spiritualitet ikke blot fortælles, men er indlejret i spillets struktur, bl.a. gennem kooperative mekanikker og miljødesign som fortællerum. Som et produkt af samarbejdet mellem Upper One Games og Cook Inlet Tribal Council positionerer Never Alone sig som et bevidst, engageret kulturprojekt, der udfordrer mainstream, postkoloniale stereotyper om ‘primitivitet’, og i stedet formidler levende, indigene vidensformer, identitetsbekræftelse og interkulturel dialog. Spillet repræsenterer Inuit som handlekraftige aktører med stærke bånd til naturen og en meningsfuld relation til den åndelige verden.
This thesis examines how the video game Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna) serves as a medium for Inuit—specifically Inupiat in Alaska—to reclaim voice by conveying culture, values, and identity. Using a qualitative approach and narrative game design analysis, it integrates visual semiotics (Roland Barthes), procedural rhetoric (Ian Bogost), and storytelling (Henry Jenkins), grounded in Stuart Hall’s concept of cultural representation and Homi K. Bhabha’s ‘third space’. The study analyzes three layers—visuals, game mechanics, and overarching narrative—and finds that cooperation, community, respect for the environment, harmony, and spirituality are not only told but embedded in the game’s structure, including cooperative mechanics and environmental design as narrative space. As a collaboration between Upper One Games and the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Never Alone emerges as a conscious, engaged cultural project that challenges mainstream postcolonial stereotypes of ‘primitiveness’ by transmitting Indigenous knowledge, affirming identity, and fostering intercultural dialogue. It portrays Inuit as active agents closely connected to nature and in a meaningful relationship with the spiritual world.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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