Deterritorialization/reterritorialization of Raramuri knowledge: within the landscapes of Mulaka

Independent video game developers are changing the game industry by creating new genres like Indigenous gaming using narratives that represent Indigenous groups. These representations form part of the video game production and provide an immersive gaming experience for the players. These interactions could be mapped into a video game assemblage of multiple actors: The game designer, game player, Indigenous knowledge, and the game itself. Deleuze and Guattari's rhizome serves as a model to study assemblage networks in a non-linear and non-hierarchal way. The study focuses on Indigenous knowledge traversing through a video game assemblage, encountering other actors. The thesis questions how Indigenous knowledge is shaped internally (digital space) and externally (distribution and game players) of the video game assemblage. And what changes occur within that knowledge, and how does it affect the other actors. The first chapter introduces rhizomatic concepts and applications in social science, game studies, and geography. The second chapter applies rhizomatic thinking in the video game production of Mulaka, examining the relationship between the Raramuri and the game designers. Moreover, the designers deterritorialized Raramuri oral stories to reterritorialize them into the game's digital landscapes, narrative, and mechanics. In addition, the paper looks at the game's use of platforms, creating pathways that connect non-native players worldwide. Finally, the paper concludes that Indigenous knowledge is constantly evolving even before the game. Once its part of the video game assemblage, the knowledge hybridizes further and changes the other actor's identity, including the game player.