Engaging with indigital geographic information networks

Abstract

Digital technologies like geographic information systems (GIS) pose new problems for indigenous people on a global scale. Some American Indian tribes see GIS as beneficial and a method of modernizing and gaining real or perceived technical legitimacy. Thus, institutions using the technology simultaneously shape and are shaped by GIS [E. Sheppard, GIS and society: Towards a research agenda, Cartography and Geographic Information Systems. 22 (1) (1995) 5–16]. Such impacts have prompted advocates of American Indian communities to raise concerns about the development of GIS in Indian Country [M. Palmer, Cut from the same cloth: The United States Bureau of Indian Affairs, geographic information systems, and cultural assimilation, in: L.E. Dyson, M. Hendriks, S. Grant (Eds.) Information technology and indigenous people, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA., 2007; M. Nantel, So as to hold many sheep: towards a culturally appropriate GIS, Unpublished Masters Thesis, McGill University, 1999]. In this paper, I will discuss some advantages and disadvantages of engaging with GIS networks emanating from federal government agencies and North American Indian communities. However, in both cases there are concerns among American Indians about the security of proprietary knowledge and information held in digital repositories. Digital technologies like GIS must be considered in relation to the future of indigenous knowledge systems. Indigital is a neologism that describes the emerging relationship between indigenous knowledges and digital technologies.