Digital Indigeneities – Technologies for the Next 7 Generations

Description:
The term “digital indigeneities”, coined in 2013 by Indigenous media practitioners and scholars, describes the various ways in which Indigenous peoples use these new technologies to preserve, transmit, and dynamize Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Some have argued that a “kinship” exists between digital media and Indigenous practices, among them, their reliance on visual and haptic languages and performance, and the fusion of traditional arts and science.
In this talk, Dr. Genner Llanes-Ortiz discusses how Indigenous communities and individuals rework digital technologies, demonstrating agency and resourcefulness. These include defining and occupying digital territories, expanding storytelling repertoires, upholding data sovereignty, and Indigenizing algorithmic principles. Through these processes, Indigenous practitioners transform and expand existing practices to ensure the continuity of Indigenous cultures, languages, and knowledge for the next 7 generations.


Bios:
Genner, a Maya scholar born in Yucatan, Mexico, has had an academic and professional career that often transcends disciplinary boundaries within the Social Sciences. His approach has always been rooted in an Indigenous critical and collaborative practice. He holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. Genner has worked in various departments at universities in Mexico, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Canada, including Development Studies, Performance Studies, Linguistics, Archaeology, and Sociology. Currently, he holds the position of Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Digital Indigeneities at Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, which is located on the ancestral territory of the Abenaki nation. Genner’s research focuses on the new opportunities and possibilities that arise from Indigenous peoples’ adoption and adaptation of digital technologies in their language, culture, and political activism.