Computer Games Enable Self-Expression among Palestinian Girls

Palestinian girls should be able to express themselves and the stories of their daily lives in the Occupied Palestinian Territories through new technology

This is the aim for Andrea Hasselager and Nevin Eronde, two Danish women who are currently doing fieldwork in the West Bank in preparation for a project supported by ActionAid Denmark’s DEMENA Pool. They want young girls to learn how to transfer stories from their daily lives into the virtual world through computer games.

“The most important thing is to give the young girls the opportunity to experiment with technology. Women are atypical within the IT-business, so this is an obvious target group”, says Andrea Hasselager who is a game designer in Denmark. The two women got the idea for the project after attending a conference about the emerging Arabic IT-market. The idea was developed into a pilot workshop on a Danish-Arabic school in Copenhagen, where young girls transferred everyday dilemmas into the world of technology.

Nevin Eronde (left) and Andrea Haaselager. In their workshop they use a specially designed card-game, where the girls have to make a story using illustrations.

This evolved into the story of the trashed barbie doll 'Darbie' and her hassle finding her way home from the garbage dump and the game about a girl's struggles to finish her daily duties, so that she can make it to the cinema with the school's handsomest guy in time. So Andrea Hasselager and Nevin Eronde are excited about which stories will develop from the workshops with the Palestinian girls.

“Research has shown that girls gain skills very different from boys. Where boys often try to copy a game they have played themselves, the girls are more concerned about developing the story itself”, explains Nevin Eronde, who is an audio designer.

This makes computer games an excellent tool for young girls to express themselves in a parallel universe, where they do not have to be concerned about social expectations and norms, but are free to express their own distinct perception of the everyday life in the occupied Territories.

But it is not only the idea development which Andrea Hasselager and Nevin Eronde is emphasizing in their project. Computer games are also a combination of skills like math, language and creativity and a game is composed of different elements such as programming, sound and animation. It is a genre where every girl can find her distinct talent. This makes Andrea Hasselager and Nevin Eronde hope that the workshops will motivate the Palestinian girls to investigate the opportunities for the use of IT in their future careers in a blossoming Arabic IT-market.   

A pilot workshop was held in Tulkarem on October 12th. The final workshops will take place in cooperation with trainers from local organisations in the West Bank in June 2012.