Native to the Device: Thoughts on Digital Indigenous Studies

Sami-digital storytelling: Survivance and revitalization in Indigenous digital games

“…At the same time, however, there are consequences if Sami survivance materializes exclusively in digital spaces. The digital realm has been identified as a place of symbolic violence as much as a space of sovereignty and self-determination: “a space where artifacts of settler imagination are simply rehearsed and (re)distributed in newly monetized ways using powerfully intensified infrastructures” (Hearne, 2017: 17). As Métis filmmaker Loretta Todd cautions in her inquiry on the future of Aboriginal narratives, histories, languages, and knowledge in digital spaces, cyberspace is equally likely to be “a clever guise for neocolonialism,” as it is to “rupture the power relations of colonizer and the colonized” (Todd, 1996: 180).…”

“…Indigenous new media is therefore still in the vulnerable position of possibly being deployed to support the capitalist system and nation-state models that oppress the populations these digital modes also give the illusion of supporting. For example, Chickasaw scholar and game theorist Jodi Byrd describes mainstream videogames as iterations of late colonial proceduralism, dependent upon conventions such as enclosure and capture (Hearne, 2017: 7). In this context, Byrd argues that video games embed frontier violence into the very foundation of play through stories connected with space through mechanisms of territorial acquisition (Hearne, 2017: 19).…”

“…For example, Chickasaw scholar and game theorist Jodi Byrd describes mainstream videogames as iterations of late colonial proceduralism, dependent upon conventions such as enclosure and capture (Hearne, 2017: 7). In this context, Byrd argues that video games embed frontier violence into the very foundation of play through stories connected with space through mechanisms of territorial acquisition (Hearne, 2017: 19). Indigeneity thereby functions as a “method” for “bundling” or “consolidating” narratives and “normative discourses of racism, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism together to understand their concomitant ends” (Hearne, 2017: 19).…”

“…In this context, Byrd argues that video games embed frontier violence into the very foundation of play through stories connected with space through mechanisms of territorial acquisition (Hearne, 2017: 19). Indigeneity thereby functions as a “method” for “bundling” or “consolidating” narratives and “normative discourses of racism, colonialism, capitalism and imperialism together to understand their concomitant ends” (Hearne, 2017: 19).…”

Indigenous Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation: A Typology of Indigenous Crowdfunding Campaigns

“…There is little research, however, that explores the dynamic of Indigenous digital entrepreneurship and crowdfunding practices. Literature that does focus on Indigenous digital experiences, however, explores (i) how Indigenous places and spaces in cyberspace are created to remediate cultural practices and challenge the ways in which we think of cyberspace in relation to land (Gaertner, 2015); (ii) how the social media practices of Indigenous communities relate to their social, economic, and cultural realities and the implications for policymaking (Dreher et al, 2016; Virtanen, 2015); or (iii) how colonial power structures can be destabilized through the use of social media, through facilitating multidirectional information flows and social interactions in context of protests (i.e., #idlenomore) (Iseke-Barnes, 2002; Hearne, 2017; Raynauld et al, 2018). As a result, Indigenous crowdfunding practices are under-researched.…”