WBUR: Online Exhibit At Harvard’s Peabody Museum Elevates Wampanoag Voices. “‘Listening to Wampanoag Voices: Beyond 1620’ features artists, storytellers and researchers, discussing some of their cultural items and photographs that are housed in the museum’s collection. “Early on, we decided to blur the focus on the 17th century,” says Meredith Vasta, collections steward at the Peabody. ‘We wanted to look at more contemporary lives and perspectives of Wampanoag people.'”
indigenous culture
The Eastern Door: Preserving History Through Beadwork Project
The Eastern Door: Preserving History Through Beadwork Project. “The Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KOR) recently launched the Kahnawake Beadwork Oral History Project, which seeks to collect, preserve and share the community’s stories and records related to beadwork. “The purpose of the project is for cultural community enrichment, historical preservation and scholarly research,” said Karonhiióstha Shea Sky, the former cultural development officer at KOR.”
‘There are no words’: As coronavirus kills Indigenous elders, endangered languages face extinction (Washington Post)
Washington Post: ‘There are no words’: As coronavirus kills Indigenous elders, endangered languages face extinction. “The old man knew he was dying. The disease he’d been warning of for weeks had taken hold, and it wouldn’t be long now. He looked to his son, who would soon be the leader of what remained of their people. The old man was fluent in five languages, but the one he chose to speak now was one that virtually no one else in the world could understand.”
InDaily: Zonfrillo’s $1.25m SA-funded Indigenous food database “launched”
InDaily: Zonfrillo’s $1.25m SA-funded Indigenous food database “launched”. “Celebrity chef Jock Zonfrillo’s controversial Orana Foundation is hailing the delivery of a ‘final Milestone Report’ to the South Australian Government for its $1.25 million taxpayer-funded Indigenous Food Database – although it’s unclear when or even if the resource will become publicly available.”
Reuters: Australia asks Google to block users ‘walking’ sacred site
Reuters: Australia asks Google to block users ‘walking’ sacred site . “Australia in 2019 closed Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, after a decades-long campaign by indigenous communities to protect it. Parks Australia, which is responsible for the national park where Uluru is located, said Google images contains photographs of the sacred site, which effectively defies the ban.” Google put Uluru on Google Street View in 2017. According to an Australian news source, Google has removed the images.
The Sector: NCACL makes free database for educators to help find First Nations children’s books
The Sector: NCACL makes free database for educators to help find First Nations children’s books. “The National Centre for Australian Children’s Literature (NCACL) has produced a free database for educators to help them discover children’s books by and about Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.”
Mongabay: New Indigenous storytelling platform brings community perspectives to the world
Mongabay: New Indigenous storytelling platform brings community perspectives to the world. “A new indigenous geo-storytelling platform, Tribal Stories, launched on Aug. 9, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The new platform, by Netherlands-based nonprofit People’s Planet Project (PPP), features films created by Indigenous filmmakers from the A’i Cofan community of Cofan Bermejo, Sucumbíos, Ecuador; and the Kīsêdjê community, from the Xingu Indigenous Territory in Mato Grosso, Brazil.”
Google Blog: A digital exhibit to elevate Indigenous art
Google Blog: A digital exhibit to elevate Indigenous art. “In March 2020, the 22nd Biennale of Sydney opened to wide acclaim—only to close after 10 days because of COVID-19. The Biennale has since physically reopened to limited audiences, but now, through a virtual exhibit on Google Arts & Culture, people all over the world can experience it. This year’s Biennale is led by First Nations artists, and showcases work from marginalized communities around the world, under the artistic direction of the Indigenous Australian artist, Brook Andrew. It’s titled NIRIN—meaning “edge”—a word of Brook’s mother’s Nation, the Wiradjuri people of western New South Wales.”
‘There’s no way we can save it all’: National Archives says audio-visual records will be lost (Young Witness)
The Young Witness (Australia): ‘There’s no way we can save it all’: National Archives says audio-visual records will be lost. “The National Archives of Australia is preparing to lose large sections of its 117,000 hours of magnetic tape archives, including a prioritisation process to ensure archives relating to Indigenous languages and culture aren’t lost. Archivists across the world agree that audio visual archives held on magnetic tape will be lost forever if they are not digitised by 2025, a deadline that institutions like the National Archives and National Film and Sound Archive are battling to meet.”
EurekAlert: Concordian co-leads effort to see future of AI from an Indigenous perspective
EurekAlert: Concordian co-leads effort to see future of AI from an Indigenous perspective. “The 205-page [Indigenous Protocol and Artificial Intelligence Position Paper] is a collection of scholarly articles, essays, short stories, poems and tech prototypes, each offering a unique perspective on what AI means and offers to Indigenous peoples. Topics are as diverse as the workshops’ participants: one essay asks us to imagine ways to design AI that align with Indigenous values and ethics. Another questions data sovereignty and appropriation. Others ask how AI can be incorporated into and become a part of creation stories or how blockchain technology combined with AI can be used to manage Indigenous communities’ business affairs.”
Library and Archives Canada Blog: Archives as resources for revitalizing First Nations languages
Library and Archives Canada Blog: Archives as resources for revitalizing First Nations languages. “Since colonial contact, government policies have caused the displacement and separation of our people from their families, communities, lands and languages. Attempts at assimilation, such as the establishment of residential schools and the ongoing Millennium Scoop, have distanced multiple generations from their languages and cultures. Canada recognizes only English and French as official languages. First Nations communities have therefore taken leadership in ensuring that their languages are maintained, relearned and passed down. The decline in the natural inheritance of language through kinship has led to the rise of language-preservation and language-revitalization projects.”
Aldergrove Star: Royal BC Museum uploads 16,103 photographs depicting Indigenous communities to online database
Aldergrove Star: Royal BC Museum uploads 16,103 photographs depicting Indigenous communities to online database. “The Royal BC Museum has opened up to the public 16,103 historical photographs depicting Indigenous communities from across B.C. that were taken between the late 1800s and the 1970s.”
Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture
Farms .com: Highlighting First Nation agriculture. “A First Nation community wants to connect with local farmers, food producers and consumers to build an online database. The Anishinabek Nation is looking to compile enough industry information to create an Agricultural Asset Inventory, a directory and an online food map of existing agriculture and food-related businesses.”
National Indigenous Times: Remote school Nawarddeken Academy supports young student’s app development
National Indigenous Times: Remote school Nawarddeken Academy supports young student’s app development. “Carefully weaving culture and technology, 14-year-old Natasha Yibarbuk has created three interactive, bilingual apps teaching Nawarddeken culture. Yibarbuk is a senior student at the Nawarddeken Academy, a unique bicultural school in the remote community of Kabulwarnamyo. The community sits within the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area in Western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.”