Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics Juliana Luna Freire Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics. Duke University Press, 2008. Edited by Pamela Wilson and Michelle Stewart. A single project such as Vídeos na Aldeia in Brazil has provided training for more than 70 Indigenous film productions since the 1980s. New distribution channels have appeared for such products, such as the First Nations\First Features event, besides the strong presence of Indigenous productions in established film festivals, such as the Sundance Festival. Moreover, multiple projects on radio stations and in magazines, for example, exist around the globe. In terms of new media, there was much discussion in 2008 about the deal between Google Earth and the Suruí Indigenous in Brazil for carbon counting and forest protection. As Indigenous media evolves and becomes more diversified, [End Page 209] how do we understand the increasing popularity and market for such products? How do they affect the lives of Indigenous groups? Within the academic community, such questions and others are coming under increasing scrutiny, and Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics addresses the need to better understand the phenomenon, analyzing the impact of media communication in the lives of those groups. Its contributors are activists and scholars from different fields looking at recent developments in Latin America (Mexico, Colombia, Brazil), Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, Russia, Wales, Finland, and Burma. The dialogue that developed into this volume started at a round-table for the Society for Cinema and Media Studies in the U.S. in 2003 and 2004, and thus the majority of the contributors are accordingly U.S. and Canadian-based scholars, despite the variety of global case studies analyzed. For the non-specialist, the essays cover a panorama of media projects from distinct geographical locations, providing historical context. The introduction describes the creation of the market niche for global Indigenous media, along with structures of funding and distribution (involving NGO’s, governmental support, and even private initiatives). Many of the essays also address the issue of self-representation within the larger process of self-determination. The essays are divided into four sections. Section I deals with poetics to politics: Francisco Salazar and Amalia Córdoba cover aesthetic issues of Indigenous movies, complemented by Jennifer Gauthier’s analysis of authorship, who argues for the possibility of a new cinematic experience, as in a “Fourth Cinema.” Furthermore, the Cache Collective examines video making among the Igloolik in Canada as a storage method based on communitarian knowledge that mixes genres and styles and negotiates a cinematic experience different from Western cinema. Additionally, Joanna Hearne discusses animations for children in the U.S. and Canada as “alternative Indigenous modernities for youth” (91). Section II looks at Indigenous media as a tool for activism, as in Lisa Brooten’s analysis of media in Burma as a tool for self-determination, cultural survival, education, and rights. Kathleen Buddle addresses the development of new roles in the political sphere by Native women involved in media. Mario Murillo analyzes community radio stations in Colombia as models for creating a public sphere, dealing with themes such as state interference and market requirements. Alexandra Halkin, the founder and former director of the Chiapas Media Project/Promedios, analyzes the bi-national partnership that created a U.S.-based nonprofit NGO aimed at teaching video making to the Indigenous of Chiapas, including the logistics of funding and workshops. Her article aims at showing the “important role for ‘outsiders’ to play as collaborators with Indigenous communities/organizations in fostering media initiatives” (177). Section III deals with cultural identity and preservation. Laurel Smith examines local and outside interactions in attempts to promote ethnicity in communication technologies, examining videos and pointing to how local issues of identity are further exacerbated in representational politics. Sari Pietikäinen examines Sámi media in Finland as a reinforcer of transnational identity and sense of nationhood. Galina Diatchkova analyzes the use of television and media networks as a resource for fighting for the rights of Indigenous peoples in Russia. Ruth McElroy, points to preservation of the Welsh language and “construction and maintenance of a national community” (233) through television. The last section covers...