Digital geographies of Indigenous health: Exploring Indigenous Mental Health content from Turtle Island during COVID-19
Abstract
The physical and mental health and wellness of Indigenous peoples is cultivated through interrelations with spiritual, cultural, community, and social practices: these practices strengthen identity and belonging. COVID-19 has disrupted many of these relational practices or shifted them to digital environments such as social media. Drawing on a thematic analysis of Tweets from March 2020-December 2021 (n=1137), I address the research question: How are Twitter users across Turtle Island engaging with Indigenous mental health content on Twitter during the COVID-19 pandemic? Within an Indigenous context, no exploratory research has been conducted on who is engaging with mental health content on social media, where they are located, or what is being said. Filling this gap requires a novel research agenda - Indigenous digital health geographies – that understands how access to, and participation with, digital environments, can influence Indigenous peoples’ health and wellness. Findings demonstrate that Twitter is space for expressing and strengthening Indigeneity, sharing cultural knowledge/resources, and supporting healing from trauma. Creating capacity for dedicated social media roles and researchers within existing Indigenous Twitter practices may improve mental health outcomes; this approach also requires a policy shift that adheres to the relational ethics of Twitter users and researchers.