Tuesday, 11 February, 7 pm

The Role of Games and Sports among Indigenous Peoples

Panel discussion with guests from “INDIGEN – The North American Film Festival”

Physical and mental training has always played a very complex role in the indigenous cultures of North America. Young people develop their personal skills in this way. And adults of all ages also enjoy a wide variety of games. Games provide an opportunity to have a good time together. Winning is important, but not as central to competition as in Western European ideas. In addition, games connect people in a spiritual way with all other beings inhabiting the same territory. Some games even serve as a conflict resolution mechanism to prevent wars. During the era of massive assimilation and the “boarding school” system, some games were strictly forbidden by law, such as Katajjaq. Others were adopted by the colonizers and turned into sports like lacrosse. In this panel, we will discuss all these different perspectives and show how old games and modern sports today help to reinforce cultural identity.

Panelists: Katsitsionni Fox, Kayley Inuksuk and Desmond Ukkuq Mackay, Jeremy Williams

Moderation: Dr. Nina Reuther, anthropologist

About the guests:

Katsitsionni Fox (Mohawk) is a filmmaker, producer, activist, cultural mediator and ceramic artist. She is the UNICEF representative at the festival. She lives with her family on the Six Nations Reserve in Canada. Her film documentaries have won several awards, including international ones.

Kayley Inuksuk Mackay (Inuit) is a film artist and musician from Arctic Canada, whose family roots lie in the Kivalliq regions of Nunavut. She grew up in Yellow
Knife (Northwest Territories), where the preservation of her connection with the Inuit culture was often a challenge. She will be playing in the duo Piqsiq at the opening concert of the film festival on 12 February.

Desmond Ukkuq Mackay is the son of Kayley Inuksuk. The 15-year-old artist is passionate about preserving and sharing traditional Inuit games. He sees these games as both a tribute to Inuit culture and a culturally specific way to maintain health and fitness.

Filmmaker and producer Jeremy Williams works for the US sports production company ESPN, which covers alternative sports. He is the director of the documentary Sacred Dog, which will be shown in the festival program. His film is about the “Indian Relay”, an extreme horse race in which the rider has to ride three times around the track on three different horses without a saddle. The competition reflects the supremacy of the horse among the Lakota – the horse as “medicine” and as a lifeline.

In English language

Reservation via the German-American Center (DAZ): Tel. 0711.22818-0, anmeldung@daz.org