Colonialism in the Cloud
The digital age has introduced new frontiers of colonial extraction, where indigenous knowledge, cultural expressions, and genetic data are often mined, appropriated, and commodified without consent or benefit to source communities. The Institute of Digital Anthropology is committed to a decolonial approach, prioritizing partnerships with Indigenous communities to research and advocate for data sovereignty—the right of a people to govern the collection, ownership, and application of their own data. Our work begins with the recognition that data is not neutral; it is a representation of culture, life, and relationships that must be stewarded according to Indigenous laws and protocols.
Principles of Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDS)
We work with Indigenous scholars and communities to apply the core principles of IDS, such as the CARE principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics) and the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) as reinterpreted through an Indigenous lens. This involves:
- Community-Based Ownership and Control: Supporting the development of digital archives where metadata and access protocols are defined by the community, not external institutions.
- Ethical Licensing and Traditional Knowledge Labels: Using innovative digital tools like Traditional Knowledge (TK) Labels and Biocultural (BC) Labels, developed by Local Contexts, to embed Indigenous provenance and use conditions into digital files.
- Respecting Restricted Knowledge: Developing technical systems that can encode and enforce cultural restrictions, ensuring that sacred or secret knowledge is not made publicly accessible online, even if held in a digital repository.
- Capacity Building and Digital Literacy: Training community members in digital skills so they can lead their own digitization and data management projects on their own terms.
Case Studies in Collaborative Praxis
Our research is action-oriented, focusing on collaborative projects:
- Language Revitalization Apps: Partnering with communities to create language learning tools that reflect pedagogical approaches and worldviews, ensuring data collected benefits language masters and learners within the community.
- Mapping Ancestral Lands: Using GIS and digital storytelling to create counter-maps that challenge colonial cartographies and affirm Indigenous place names, stories, and environmental knowledge, while controlling who can access sensitive site information.
- Repatriating Museum Collections: Working as intermediaries to help museums digitize and ethically share collections with source communities, facilitating virtual repatriation and remote access to cultural heritage.
- Climate Data Sovereignty: Supporting Indigenous communities in the Arctic and Pacific to collect and manage environmental data, ensuring their traditional ecological knowledge informs climate policy without being exploited by outside researchers.
This work requires a fundamental reorientation of academic practice. Our researchers must be humble listeners, long-term partners, and facilitators rather than extractive experts. We prioritize relationship-building over publication output. The goal is to support Indigenous self-determination in the digital realm, helping to create tools and systems that amplify Indigenous voices and worldviews on their own terms. In doing so, we challenge the universalizing assumptions of much digital technology and point towards a more pluralistic, just, and respectful digital future where multiple knowledge systems can coexist and thrive.