Designing digital and creative scaffolds to strengthen Indigenous nations: being Wiradjuri by practising sovereignty

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of digitally mediated DIY practices constitutes new modalities of political expression and participation, shaping how citizenship is enacted and performed. However, our paper begins by problematizing concepts of citizenship in media and communication contexts that only speaks to identity-formation. For Indigenous Australians, citizenship does not need to be asserted or constructed—they are sovereign and they have never ceded their land, rights or identity. Pursuing this argument, we share insights of various digital and creative scaffolds that are being designed with Wiradjuri people as continuous ‘infrastructuring’ to express and practice Wiradjuri sovereignty. This exploration is enabling a political identity to form and creating multiple places to be Wiradjuri together. We also discuss how designing digital and creative scaffolds can be considered as a meeting place of sovereigns, to attend to a consciousness that non-Indigenous people are also practising their own sovereignty in relation to respecting Indigenous sovereignty/ies.

KEYWORDS:

• Participatory design
• Indigenous Nation
• sovereignty
• Australia

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Indigenous Nation Building collaborators that have influenced the work discussed in this paper, and acknowledge the immense body of scholarship by Professors Stephen Cornell, Daryle Rigney and Miriam Jorgensen; Associate Professor Steve Hemming; Dr Alison Vivian and Mr Damein Bell. Additionally, the authors are eternally indebted to the Gunditjmara Peoples, Wiradjuri and Ngarrindjeri Nation for sharing their knowledges. We would also like to thank the editors and reviewers of the paper, and in particular, Olivia Guntarik, whose feedback was invaluable. The work here also reflects the ongoing collaboration with design agencies, Bec Nally and PaperGiants (Reuben Stanton and Chris Marmo), communication design students and support from RMIT University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr Yoko Akama is a participatory design researcher in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University.

Ms Debra Evans is an Indigenous researcher, School of Indigenous Australian Studies, Charles Sturt University.

Dr Seth Keen is an interactive documentary producer and researcher in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University.

Dr Faye McMillan, Wiradjuri woman, is the Member of the Trangie Land Council, and Director of Djurawang Program, Charles Sturt University.

Dr Mark McMillan, Wiradjuri man, is the Member of the Trangie Land Council, and Associate Professor University of Melbourne Law School. From March 2017 will be Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Indigenous Education and Engagement at RMIT University.

Mr Peter West is a design researcher in communication strategies in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT University.

Notes

1. Founded by Professors Stephen Cornell and Joseph P. Kalt at Harvard University in 1987, the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development (Harvard Project) is housed within the Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. Through applied research and service, the Harvard Project aims to understand and foster the conditions under which sustained, self-determined social and economic development is achieved among American Indian nations. The Harvard Project’s core activities include research, education and the administration of a tribal governance awards programme. In all of its activities, the Harvard Project collaborates with the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management and Policy at the University of Arizona. The Harvard Project is also formally affiliated with the Harvard University Native American Program, an interfaculty initiative at Harvard University.

2. The Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority has had significant impacts on the evolution of such foundational concepts to Indigenous Nation Building in Australia. Of particular importance to this paper is the understanding of the KNY Agreements and the Ngarrindjeri Yannarumi—Speaking as Country. KNY is Kungun Ngarrindjeri Yunnan which translates to English as Listen to Ngarrindjeri talking.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been made possible through Australian Research Council grants led by the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS). The Melbourne School of Government has also funded research collaboration within Indigenous Nation Building framework in Australia.