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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/ 0000-0002-5810-510X

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Anthropology

Year Degree Awarded

2022

Month Degree Awarded

February

First Advisor

Jean Forward

Second Advisor

Jacqueline Urla

Third Advisor

Anne Ciecko

Subject Categories

Communication Technology and New Media | Digital Humanities | Film and Media Studies | Indigenous Studies | Native American Studies | Social and Cultural Anthropology

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to examine the types of digital media being produced in the Northeastern United States, its content, the goals and motivations of its creators, the processes underlying Indigenous digital media creation, and the desired and projected audiences of Indigenous digital artists and content creators. Resulting findings from this study illuminate long histories of Indigenous use of digital media tied to digital media's development in Indigenous lands. I argue that Native people have been producers and influencers in film and later, digital media, and have underwritten digital production due to its development on Indigenous lands. Through interviews and media analysis, I discuss how Indigenous content creators use digital media to express identity, educate others, make political gains, and insert Indigeneity into the future. Insights garnered through interviews and media analyses and comparisons with earlier forms of visual media, particularly Indigenous self-portrayals in film and on websites, all indicate that Indigenous people in the Northeast are largely resisting stereotypical self-representations. Indigenous framings of media landscapes and the sociohistorical processes informing them are emphasized, which furthers research on underrepresented presences, uses, and understandings of digital spaces

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/27080792

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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