Theorizing Indigital Geographic Information Networks

Abstract

In this article, I argue that in North America, 500 years of cartographic encounters and translations have transformed Indigenous map-making and geospatial technology processes into an amalgam of knowledge systems, science, and technology. To do this I first review the processes of map-making that have been shaped by continual cartographic encounters, exchanges, and translations between American Indians and Euro-Americans. Dichotomies between Indigenous–traditional and Western–scientific are prevalent within the literature, but the boundaries between geographic knowledge systems have always been fuzzy and crossable. This review includes some processes strongly shaped by Indigenous communities, such as ethnocartography and counter-mapping in Alaska and Canada, and GIS processes controlled more by government institutions in the lower 48 US states. Second, I introduce the tenets of a new model – indigital geographic information networks (iGIN) – to describe the heterogeneous processes of encounters, exchanges, and translations merging Indigenous, scientific, and digital technologies into inclusive forms of technoscience. Third, I demonstrate iGIN processes through exploratory research at the university level, using Kiowa-language narratives and network GIS to create a new “third” construct. Finally, following brief concluding remarks, I propose future research directions.