As I was browsing Board Game Geek I stumbled upon a forum where a user asked for anticolonial board games to play in a high school world history classroom.
Occasionally someone tries to create something along these lines, but like most commercial games (regardless of subject) they don't really go anywhere.
The Mary Flanagan book was rather a disappointment, especially after reading other things by her.
Maurice Suckling's new book has a chapter devoted to the problem:
Thanks Brian. Both of those games seem excellent (Dog Eat Dog seems particularly well suited for a classroom if the kids are invested). I hadn't heard of Play the Past either -- thanks for the resources.
I probably overestimated BGG's communal interest in producing a comprehensive list, but the overall dearth is still disappointing.
You know by now this is typical of most BGG threads:
OP asks a question (in good or bad faith).
A series of answers that are variously:
- lengthy but irrelevant;
- quibbling with the irrelevant answers at either much greater or much shorter length;
- one-liners that are irrelevant in completely different ways;
- abusive of or condescending towards the OP for their ignorance and temerity in asking a question;
- pleas for order and civility; and
- something actually useful to the OP.
In that thread there are 2 items that are useful: Dog Eat Dog and First Nations of Catan.
Blog post I did on this a while back:
https://brtrain.wordpress.com/2022/05/23/indigenous-counterpoints-to-colonial-themes-in-board-games/
Occasionally someone tries to create something along these lines, but like most commercial games (regardless of subject) they don't really go anywhere.
The Mary Flanagan book was rather a disappointment, especially after reading other things by her.
Maurice Suckling's new book has a chapter devoted to the problem:
https://www.routledge.com/Paper-Time-Machines-Critical-Game-Design-and-Historical-Board-Games/Suckling/p/book/9781032416915#
And one more link, though you might know of them already: Play the Past.
https://www.playthepast.org/
Too much about video games in there but it's the world we live in, I suppose... there is some about analog board games though.
Thanks Brian. Both of those games seem excellent (Dog Eat Dog seems particularly well suited for a classroom if the kids are invested). I hadn't heard of Play the Past either -- thanks for the resources.
I probably overestimated BGG's communal interest in producing a comprehensive list, but the overall dearth is still disappointing.