Durga Puja Beyond Borders

Durga Puja Beyond Borders is an educational video game that uses aspects of management games to playfully yet educationally introduce various layers of Durga Puja festival culture, such as joint Durga Puja organizations and especially celebrations. It conveys educational content about the festival’s history and past and present ways of worshipping and jointly celebrating, in India and beyond. Moreover, it allows a glimpse into how festivals are important events and locations for migrant communities to live and negotiate identity, heritage and culture - beyond borders.

The festival Durga Puja has extensively traveled with Indian communities, beyond many geographical and cultural borders. Today, the festival is celebrated in many places all around the globe, places that have become home to Indian migrant communities. This game invites you to join the festival in an exemplary global Indian community, in the so-called Indian diaspora, in Helsinki, Finland. In Durga Puja Beyond Borders you play as Laura, who takes part in organizing and celebrating a Durga Puja event hosted by a local Indian community.

Features

Join a Durga Puja event from the planning stage to the actual celebrations.

Converse with the planning committee in video team meetings.

Take support from your mentor.

Schedule the event plan for the celebrations and assign responsibilities.

Use video calls to talk with the committee members.

Micro-manage goof ups during the event days in real time.

Have conversations with members of the community about Durga Puja, in India and beyond.

Use the library to get suggestions for further readings.

Credits

University of Helsinki (Finland), Xenia Zeiler, and Flying Robots Studios (Kolkata, India), Satyajit Chakraborty. Funded by the University of Helsinki’s Digileap Initiative.