Land-Based Relations in/and Digital Technology

Many of us are thinking more deeply about our relationships with the land these days. Through land acknowledgements inspired by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action. In response to the growing urgency, and immediacy, of climate change and its impacts. But what about our digital technologies and online cultures? How does the concept of Indigenous land-based relations help us to better understand the information society, its politics, and its processes? In this episode, Dr. Sara Grimes (Director of the KMDI) chats with Dr. Jeffrey Ansloos, author of The Medicine of Peace: Indigenous Youth Decolonizing Healing and Resisting Violence,Associate Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, a Registered Psychologist in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, and the Canada Research Chair in Critical Studies in Indigenous Health and Social Action on Suicide, at the University of Toronto. Professor Ansloos is Nehiyaw (Cree) and English and a member of Fisher River Cree Nation (Ochekwi-Sipi; Treaty 5), who was born and raised in Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and now resides in Tkaronto. The discussion is focused on Dr. Ansloos’s research into land-based relations within social media platforms and other digital technologies, Indigenous STS and decolonizing methodologies, and working with Indigenous youth to tackle mental health issues, social violence, and systematic oppression. It is centred on three of his recent articles: “Surviving in the cracks: a qualitative study with Indigenous youth on homelessness and applied community theatre” co-authored with Amanda Wager, published in the International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education in 2020; “Our spirit is like a fire: Conceptualizing intersections of mental health, wellness, and spirituality with Indigenous youth leaders across Canada,” co-authored with Elissa Dent, and published in the Journal of Indigenous Social Development in 2021; and “Indigenous sovereignty in digital territory: a qualitative study on land-based relations with #NativeTwitter,” co-authored with Ashley Caranto Morford, and published in AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples in 2021.
Type of research discussed in today’s episode: decolonizing methodologies, Indigenous Science and Technology Studies (STS), arts-based research, participatory research, thematic analysis.
Keywords for today’s episode: land-based relations, #NativeTwitter, mental health, Indigenous youth, Settler colonialism in cyberspace, decolonization, Indigenous sovereignty, cyber-justice.
For more information and a full transcript of each episode, check out our website: http://kmdi.utoronto.ca/the-critical-technology-podcast/