the project

The Mzansi Climate Justice! Game Jam project is a series of hybrid collaborative game-making sessions that will be hosted between the Netherlands and South Africa.

The project is radically different from traditional game jams. It will take place over one month and include four hybrid collaborative game-making sessions that will use the game-making process to empower participants to explore and reflect on different ways of framing climate justice issues based on their local realities and experiences. The project will conclude with the publication of five climate justice games produced by participants, as well as reflections and findings from the project.

what is this game jam about?

Through collaborative game-making, together we’ll:

  • Tell untold and overlooked stories of climate change
  • Build new climate justice narratives that reflect lived experiences and local context of different people
  • Highlight the hidden costs and causes of climate injustice
  • Challenge assumptions about what climate issues are — and how we talk about them
  • Not only reflect on existing problems — but reimagine climate futures that are grounded in care, repair, and collaboration
  • Promote the use of games and playfulness for advocacy and social change
  • Create a space that brings people from the Global South and the Global North together to explore and shape more inclusive climate justice narratives

meet the team

Adriaan Odendaal & Karla Zavala Barreda
internet teapot – research & design studio

Project Leads & Organizers

Mxolisi Xaba

Project Coordinator (South Africa)

Czarina Calinawagan

Project Coordinator (Netherlands)

Yan Cong

Researcher

Luis Bracamontes

Community and Communication

Zama Nyuswa

Venue Facilitator

partners and collaborators

Susannah Montgomery

Sustainable Media Lab, EPIC-WE, Nederlands Instituut voor Beeld en Geluid

Dr. Laura op de Beke

Center for Game Research, Utrecht University

Dr. Stefan Wernig

Center for Game Research, Utrecht University

Mulako Kabisa

WITS University: Global Change Institute

Kieran Reid

Two Name Games

Batlhalifi Nkgothoe

WITS University: Global Change Institute

Vanessa Catalano

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences

Tebogo Suping

Bonita de Klerk

WITS University: Global Change Institute

Prof. Nthabiseng Motsemme

University of Johannesburg’s Township Studies Programme

Bella Rogerson

Sea Monster Entertainment

Xolile Vundla
Animation South Africa

community talk speakers

Paolo Pedercini

Molleindustria

Prof. Dick Ngambi

OERiGA Project, University of Cape Town

Dr. Mmatshilo Motsei

Afrika Ikalafe

venue sponsorship

Center for Game Research, Utrecht University

special thanks

Mindex Library Systems

funded by

Creative Industries Fund NL: Climate Justice Program

contact

We are always open to new collaborations!
Get in touch with us at play[at]climatejusticejam.net