After the Return: Digital Repatriation and the Circulation of Indigenous Knowledge

The “After the Return: Digital Repatriation and the Circulation of Indigenous Knowledge,” workshop brings together scholars from diverse anthropological fields, indigenous communities, and collecting institutions to document sets of best practices and case studies of digital repatriation in order to theorize the broad impacts of such processes in relation to: linguistic revitalization of endangered languages, cultural revitalization of traditional practices and the creation of new knowledge stemming from the return of digitized material culture. Theoretically, this workshop asks how and if marginalized communities can reinvigorate their local knowledge practices, languages, and cultural products through the reuse of digitally repatriated materials and distributed technologies. Invited participants all have expertise in both applied digital repatriation projects and the theoretical concerns that locate knowledge creation within both culturally specific dynamics and technological applications.

Keynote given by Jim Enote, Director of the A:shiwi A:wan Museum and Heritage Center