Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Indigenous knowledge on the Internet is a new cultural form and therefore represents a new capacity for indigenous communities. This paper addresses the potential of the Internet and digital technology to serve indigenous resurgence by contributing to the efforts and goals of indigenous nation building. Based on interviews and discussions with active users of FourDirectionsTeachings.com, a website that I created, I propose that online indigenous knowledge projects can be considered as “digital bundles” - a symbolic digital construction that is immediately recognized and validated by indigenous peoples as an important and meaningful resource for indigenous knowledge. Naming online indigenous knowledge projects in this way elevates the cultural protocol and cultural responsibilities that come with such a designation. In addition, the notion of digital bundle grounds online indigenous knowledge projects within an indigenous epistemological paradigm.