Article Title

Digital Data Management as Indigenous Resurgence in Kahnawà:ke

Abstract

Indigenous peoples are addressing the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism through a variety of expressions of community resurgence. Among these initiatives are those leveraging digital technologies. In the emergent network society, digital infrastructures, and information and communication technologies are powerful tools that can support self-government. In this context, we document the development of digital data management in the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke. Data is the digital information generated by a community, encompassing areas like research, education, finance, health, membership, housing, lands, and resources. As self-determining political entities, each First Nation determines how this data is interpreted and used, supported by tools like data management platforms and information-sharing protocols. In this article, we show how local practices regarding the collection, use, and sharing of digital data in Kahnawà:ke provides a clear example of Indigenous resurgence.

Acknowledgments

We want to acknowledge and thank the Mohawk community of Kahnawà:ke for supporting this research, and the interview participants who helped with this project. Those people who consented to include their names are: Tracey Alfred, Janice Beauvais, Natalie Beauvais, Jason Calvert, Joyce Diabo, Tyler Diabo, Rhonda Kirby, Chris LeClaire, Jackie LeClaire, Petal McComber, and Terry White. The Kahnawà:ke Education Council provided administrative support for this research. The authors also thank their colleagues at the First Nations Innovation (FNI) project at the University of New Brunswick, and in particular primary investigator, Dr. Susan O’Donnell, who provided detailed feedback in an earlier version of this article. The FNI project has been funded since 2006 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), with in-kind contributions from the project partners. For more information, please visit: http://fn-innovation-pn.com The authors thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual conference of the Canadian Sociological Association in St. Catherines, Ontario, May 25–30, 2014.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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