I find myself in a lot of conversations, discussing the merits of our digital age.  I meet a lot of people who quickly gloss and state that digital media is destroying culture.  At most what people fail to realize is that digital media is merely disrupting our social interactions and forging new social communications that have yet to develop a universal etiquette for social engagement. In so doing these new cyber ways slip into our daily real time performances, thus creating a social chaos and alienating those people who are not immersed in cybersphere.

However, digital media has many merits to strengthen communities by archiving already held material and expanding access to previously unreleased cultural items, such as photographs and audio / video material. In our most recent project we engage the idea of digital repatriation.

In 1990 the Federal government of the United States mandated the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) that all institutions that housed indigenous remains and funerary objects receiving federal funds were required to make efforts to repatriate those items. While some universities and museums have made great efforts to follow the NAGPRA guidelines, some have not.

NAGPRA, however, only covers material items and human remains.  No mention is made of photographic images and audio / video recordings collected by the same research institutions.

In our efforts to recover the past and link it to the present we worked with Indiana University's Mathers Museum of World Cultures to reconnect a series of images from the Wanamaker collection to the communities from which they were taken.  Over 8,000 images are housed at the Museum, many of which depict Native American-Indian people from a period of 1908 to 1913.

Mathers Museum Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs  

We proposed a photo-documentary of the descendants of the six known Tuscarora featured in the Mathers Museum of World Cultures’ Wanamaker Collection of American Indian Photographs. The exhibit will be a combination of the Wanamaker photos and new photographs of residents posing with their six ancestors.

To make the link from the present to the past we will interview many residents to share memories, to talk about themselves, and discuss the significance of being able to connect with these images. The primary purpose of this exhibit is to share the ever evolving and reciprocal relationships between museums and participatory communities; in this exhibition between a specific set of relationships with the Wanamaker photos. The relations are multi-functional: it has educational, ethnographical, and academic components. It will send clear messages of continuity, community, and connection. We will explore some of those elements in our photographs and in discussions with contemporary Tuscarora. We invite Mathers Museum of World Cultures participation into the discourses at these interstices.

Who is the intended audience for this exhibit? [School children? University students? The general public?

The audiences intended for this exhibit stretches across academia, the general public, university and secondary students, and lovers of visual arts, history, and indigenous studies.

In keeping with a spirit of education and reciprocal relationships we propose this exhibit be a traveling exhibit. We intend for people from Tuscarora Indian Nation (especially descendants of the six individuals portrayed in the Wanamaker portraits) to travel to the opening.  Likewise, at the close of the exhibit at the Mathers we plan to display the exhibit at the recently constructed Tuscarora Nation House, in 2016.

The Process:

The images were first posted on the Tuscarora Nation's website to find out about descendants.  A brief explanation was posted and a "call-out" for willing models was posted.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10204195923715427&set=o.405981579324&type=3&theater

As we presented the original images, we documented people's reactions through camera. Sometimes people expressed great surprise and emotional reactions.

Freida, shown in the white shirt, sees her father in his youth for the first time.  Upon viewing the photo she was speechless, simply staring at it for a few minutes.

Showing the image of Susan Thompson to Wendy Bissell and Jimmy and Nadine Printup elicited strong reaction.  Nadine stated "I don't know who this woman is but I just got chills looking at her!"

It is these unsolicited, candid reactions we seek to preserve and share.

After taking photos with descendants we posted images on facebook to recruit more people.

Although some people were shy once a few snaps were taken, they began to take ownership of the images. They chose favorite spots, favorite clothes, and favorite items they wanted to be presented with.

Stay tuned for more to come!

Representing themselves.

In our efforts to promote self-representation we engaged in a Photo Ethnography Project (PEP!)

During our stay in KwaZulu-Natal South Africa 2010 - 2011 we gathered groups of Coloured youth with the help of community leaders, gave them digital cameras and asked them to take photos based on certain themes: home, family, beauty, the Other, etc.

The term "Coloured" in South Africa refers to heterogeneous, multi-generational, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, genetically blended people, or creolized people.  

The youth would photograph their experiences, return as a group and we'd discuss the images they produced.  We discussed image framing and composition, subject matter, and what the images meant to them.

Over a period of a few months we met, spoke and shared images. Towards the end of the project we met individually with each member to pick out their favorite photos.  Then as a group we showed the favorites and voted which would be exhibited.  

The three resulting shows exhibited in the communities and a gallery represented the youth's perspectives of where they lived and who they were as South Africa

For more information and discussion please visit: http://fileve-joe.blogspot.com/

Welcome!

Welcome to the Aboriginal Abidigital, a site dedicated to the efforts of inspiring alternative representations and stories of indigenous people.

This site is run by Joseph Stahlman, PhD and Fileve Tlaloc Palmer, PhD.  Together they travel the earth and cyber world bringing alternative perspectives to the forefront of people's internet experience.

 

Image by Natalie Nomandla Houston

This blog is dedicated to educating, informing, and enlightening society through the multiple roads of being indigenous. We define "indigenous" as aboriginal peoples (and their descendants) originating from lands they have existed before the age of exploration and subsequent colonization. Indigenous means remaining connected to our ancestors who lived here for thousands of years, thus making us part of the land. We continue to carry our traditions and be a voice for those unable to speak - past or present. Abidigital Aboriginal is a continuation of that tradition of being linked to place, space, and people. It means moving through time, moving with technology, and adapting to change without losing one's identity, but incorporating technology into our individual and collective distinctivenesses. As such, we showcase indigenous cultures through multimedia community and online presentations.