s02e09: "The Archive is a Dangerous Place"

Challenging Colonialism

Episode 9 explores the ways in which colonialism and colonial collections have impacted the development of archives, and the restrictions of these spaces. We follow the stories of Indigenous scholars who have worked to reclaim Indigenous knowledge, songs, and documents from archival collections. We also explore questions of data sovereignty, digital sovereignty, and intellectual property rights.

As discussed throughout Season 2, colonial extraction and collections have resulted in the theft of Indigenous knowledge, Indigenous bodies, and so much more. Previous episodes have explored issues of 'salvage anthropology' and repatriation. This episode shifts the focus to efforts to reclaim Indigenous knowledge, whether that be in the form of songs, wax cylinders, documents, letters, or other forms stored in colonial archives.

The speakers in this episode include:

Dr. Robin R. R. Gray (Ts’msyen/Cree)

Weshoyot Alvitre (Tongva)

Carolyn Rodriguez (Amah Mutsun)

Sedonna Goeman-Shulsky (Tonawanda Band of Seneca)

Links for further reading:

"Cahuilla Basket Returns Home," by Emily Clarke, August 12, 2022, in News from Native California.

CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance

GIDA, Global Indigenous Data Alliance: Promoting Indigenous Control of Indigenous Data

Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance: Research, Policy, and Practice for Indigenous Data Sovereignty

"Indigenous Digital Sovereignty: From the Digital Divide to Digital Equity," by Davida Delmar, Jul 19, 2023

"Ts'msyen Revolution: The Poetics and Politics of Reclaiming," Robin R.R. Gray Dissertation.

Dr. Robin Gray: “Embodied Heritage: Enactments of Indigenous Sovereignty” (video)

"Toypurina: Our Lady of Sorrows," Weshoyot Alvitre, Kickstarter

Theft Is Property! Dispossession and Critical Theory, Robert Nichols

Challenging Colonialism is produced by Daniel Stonebloom & Martin Rizzo-Martinez. All interviews by Martin, all audio engineering and editing by Daniel. All music by G. Gonzales. The title of this episode comes from Dr. Robin Gray.