canadiana - philbu.net

CANADIANA
Klous-Die
ter Ertler/Hortmut Lutz
(eds./6ds.)
Literotu
ren/Kulturen - Literotu
res/Cultures- Litt6rotu
res/Cultures
Herousgegeben
vonKlous-Dieter
Ertler
undWolfgong
Klooß
Conodoin Groinou/
LeConodoö Groinou
BondZ
PETER
LANG
. New York. Oxford .Wien
Fronkfurt
om Moin . Berlin. Bern. Bruxelles
A Multidtsciplinory
Survey
of ConodionStudiesofter30 yeors
Tourd' horizonmultidisciplinoire
d'Etudesconodiennes,
30 änsoprös
PETER
LANG
Internotiono
lerVerlogder Wissenschoften
62
prod.Neighbours.
NationalFilrn Boardof Canada,1952.8 rnin.
Mclaren,Malcolrn,dir., writ., ar-rd
Mehta,Deepa,dir. llater. DeepaMehtaFilms,2005.114min.
BritishColumbiaFilm Commission,1994.87 min.
Shum,Mina, dir.DoubleHapplness.
Stopkewich,L).nne,dir. Kissed.BoneyardFilm Company,1996.78 min.
BritishColumbiaFilm Commission,1999.l0l min
Wheeler.Anne.dir. BetterthanChocolate.
Indigenous Media Technology Production in
Northern Ontario. Canada
Philipp Budka
(Vienna)
I
Introduction
When there was the Biafra famine back in the 1980s,the First Nation community of Sandy Lake in Northwestern Ontario was raising money to support the
aid agenciesthat went down there to help the starving people. To raise these
funds, the women of the community went to the communication centre where
they switched off the TV transmitter from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). They did this just before Saturdaynight ice hockey was going to be
on, which is one of the most popular TV events,particularly among the community's male inhabitants. After shutting off the transmitter, the women went on
community radio and announcedthat they wouldn't turn the transmitter back on
until the men had given a certain amount of money. There was another popular
program broadcastby the CBC, a soap opera calledAll My Children, which was
on every day and particularly watched by the women of the community. The following Monday, the Sandy Lake men went down to the communication centre
and shut off the TV transmitter. This time they said that they wouldn't put the
program back on until the women had donated so much money. This is a nice
example of how membersof a community take control and ownership over media technologies.Even though the technical equipment for receiving TV signals
did not belong to the community - it was the property of the CBC - people used
it for their own, very special,purposes.
In this paper, I want to take a look at indigenousmedia technology production in the geographical and socio-cultural contexts of Northem Ontario, Canada. By introducing two casestudies,the paper intendsto show how indigenous
people have taken control over the production and uses of media technologies
over the last 35 years.In both cases,indigenousorganizationshave beentaking
the initiative to produceand distributetheir own media and technologyservices.
The ethnographicresearchfor this paper was conductedwithin the scopeof my
Ph.D.dissertationprojectduring the summerof 2006.
64
IndigenousMedia Technologiesand Anthropological Research
According to Ginsburg, Abu-Lughod and Larkin (2002) tnedia anthropology researchcan be categorizedinto threebrancheswithin a socio-politicalcontinuum:
1. On one end of this continuum,anthropologicalresearchis dealingwith
the productionand distributionof mass media through commercialorganizationsand govemmentalinstitutions,the most powerful media actors, as well as with the consumptionof thesemedia products(cf. AbuLughod 2002; Mankekar2002;Wilk 2002; Yang 2002).
2. In the middle of the continuum,processesand contextsof media productionand consumptionby diasporicand minority groupsare the focal
points of research(cf. Hobart 2002; Monis 2002; Schein2002).
3. Finally, on the other end of the continuurn,we find anthropologicalresearchon media practicesthat aim to empower indigenousand disenfranchised people (cf. Ginsburg 2002a, 2002b; Mclagan 2002; Michaels1994;Prins2002;Tumer2002).
Within the latter, anthropologistsare particularly interestedin how indigenous
peoplehavestartedto 'talk back' to structuresof power that neglectthe political,
cultural and economicinterestsof thesemarginalizedpeopleby producingtheir
own media.To "underscorethe senseof both political agencyand cultural interventionthat peoplebring to theseefforts",Ginsburgrefersto this mediapractice
as "culturalactivism"(2002a,8;1997).
In the caseof indigenousmediaproduction,many anthropologistshavebecome media activists,and hence cultural activists themselves,by working togetherwith indigenouspeopleto producevideos (Turner 2002),websites(Forte
2006), and films (Ginsburg 2002a; 2002b). Taking into considerationthe difficult and sometimeseven desperatesituationsunder which many indigenous
peoplehave to live, it is understandable
that researcherstum into activistsnot
only studyingand describing,but actively supporting,for example,media projects. Throughthis form ofsupport anthropologists
becomedeeplyinvolved and
incorporatedinto processes,proceduresand practiceswhich they initially indentedto analyzemore from the 'outside'.A lot of ethical as well as moral questions are emerginghere,which are discussedparticularlywithin the f,reldsof applied and actionanthropology.'
'
In addition, many indigenous people strongly reject the objectification of their lives and
cultures through anthropological and ethnographic researchby allowing only work and researchthat contributes to projects owned and controlled by their people (e.g. Smith 2005).
65
Ginsburgidentifiesa growing tendencyof "strategicobjectification"of indigenousculture among native media producers,causedby the use of indigenous "culture" as a "source of claims for political and human rights" (2002a,
9-10).A classicexampleof this developmentis the struggleof the Zapatistasin
Chiapas,Mexico, which has also made its way into cyberspace.Images and
imaginationsabout the region's indigenouspeoplesand their situations were distributed and representedon the internet, mainly by non-indigenous support organizationsand networks, to create what could be called an "electronic solidarify-scape"(Budka 2004,40; cf. Budka and Kremser2004).
For Ginsburg, indigenouspeople are successfullyapplying media technologiesto their specificsocio-culturalneeds,creatingin this way their own 'indigenized' media (2002a; 2002b). Other anthropologists are convinced that
modernmedia technologies,developedin the 'Western'industrializedworld, are
causingthe assimilationof indigenouspeople and hencethe loss of indigenous
cultures(cf. Mander 1991;Weiner 1997).
On the one hand, there is hardly any doubt that'Western' media technologies lead to linguistic adaptationand acculturationwithout necessarilyentailing
a loss ofdistinct cultural features.It is also obviousthat the productionand consumptionof mass media is controlled and dominatedby powerful economic and
political agents.On the other hand,mediatechnologiesare providing indigenous
people with the possibility to make their voices heard, to network and connect,
to distribute information, to revitalize their cultures and languages,and to become politically engagedand active. New infonnation and communication technologies(ICT), such as the intemet and its applications,offer many of these
possibilitiesto marginalizedpeople(cf. Landzelius2006c).I will attemptto take
a critical approachto both ofthese perspectivesby introducing fwo casestudies
of indigenousmedia technology production.
Wawatay - Aboriginal Media Production in Northern Ontario
One organizationthat pioneeredthe production of indigenousmedia technologies and content is the Wawatay Native CommunicationSociefy; they provide
the approximately45,000Aboriginal inhabitantsof the NishnawbeAski Nation,
which covers most of Northem Ontario, with newspapers,radio and TV programsas well as online news.
During the 1970s, several Aboriginal newspapersand newsletters came
into existenceacrossCanadafollowing the releaseof the White Paperon Indian
policy by the Canadiangovernment(cf. Dernay 1993).In Northern Ontario,the
bilingual LlawatayNews was publishedfor the first time in 1973,providing the
61
66
First Nations of the region with news in English and oji-cree. Most of the
money for media production came from the federal Native communication program, which was also establishedin 1973(cf. Avison & Meadows2000).
However, when the canadian governmentcut the funding in 1990, some newspapers
(e.g. Kanai News) were forced to ceasepublishing while others, such as /[/awatay News, commercializedand had to include advertisementsat the cost of other
content (cf. Demay 1993). Though govemment funded, these media production
initiatives depend on regional Native communications societies anJ organizations that emphasizelocal Aboriginal control over production and access.
The wawatay Native communications society also establisheda community radio system for ontario's northern First Nations. After the first community
radio station was establishedin 1974,the canadian Radio-Television and rele_
communications cornmission (cRTC) licensed the wawatay Radio Network,
which provides programming in oji-cree and cree language, in 19g6. particularly in the most northem communities where these languageswere spoken
by a
majority of residents,the radio network's programs used to reach upto g0 percentof the population(Karam & Zuckemick lgg2,43).
Since the majority of the younger generationsare no longer fluent in the
native languages,Aboriginal radio broadcastinghas lost some of its audienceto
the English-languagemedia of television and the intemet. This of courseprimarily dependson community politics and the local engagementof people with their
native language.In the communities of Deer Lake and Fort severn, for instance.
children begin learning oji-cree and cree, respectively,in kindergarten.
Following the launch of the Anik satellitesat the end of the 1970s.several
Aboriginal broadcasters,such as the Inuit Broadcasting corporation, started
to
provide Native-language prograrnming (cf. Baltruschat 2004; Roth
2005). In
1983,the Northem Broadcastingpolicy and the Northern Native Broadcastprogram, createdthe basis for a northern satellite distribution system which
eventu_
ally resultedin the launch of Television Northem canada (T\|NC) in l99l
. until 1999, "T\aNC remained the only Aboriginal television network in the
world
that broadcastedprogramming from indigenous sources" (Baltruschat
2004,3).
In that year, the Aboriginal peoples Television Network (AprN) was launched
after TVNC was approved for a national broadcastlicense.AprN blends
mult!
lingual programmingabout Aboriginal cultures,lives, haditions and histories,
with
news and public affairs in a mainsheambroadcastingstyle. In doing so,
it depends
on local and regionalAboriginal mediaproducers,suchas wawata% for
content.
WawatayisnotonlyproducingAboriginalmediacontentandprovidinga
is also to preserve Aboriginal
local communication infrastructure, its mandate
culture and language:
communityindependent
Societyis a self-goveming,
wawatayNativecommunications
technologies
to usingappropriate
dedicated
driurnät .pr.neurialnativeorganization
in NorthemOntario'
needsof peopleof Aboriginalancestry
to meettheiommunication
wouldservetheir
wawatay
that
intended
its
*hrr"u", theylive. In doing so, fouiders
languagesand culcommunitiesty pnu-ing,"^aintaining and enhancingindigenous
added)
ture. (Mandate" 2008,emphasis
the canadian Heritage Fund for
The society therefore also receives money from
is almost exclusively in
radio and TV broadcasting.whereas radio programming
and the Wawatay newsOji-Cree and Cree, the TV shows produced for APTN
content' Wawatay
language
of
native
portion
pup", hau" a considerably smaller
in the
technologies
communication
Las constantlytried to improve and integrate
providand
radios
northernFirst Nations by, for example,installing community
community raing training programs for utilizing and handling this technology.
in First Nation
oio trasbecome one of the most popular communication media
kinds ofoccasions'
communities- used by all age groups,both sexesand for all
suchasradiobingoorfundraising'Toproducemediacontentemanatingdirectly
fromtheFirstNations,Wawatayemploysfreelancewritersandphotographers
in somecommunities to provide the newspaperwith local stories'
integrating
New ICTs have become an important aspect of engaging and
Digital
content.
their
community members into the production of media and
for the
allow
video and photo cameras,audio recorders,and internet connections
on
used
creationof multimedia stories and reports that can easily be edited and
the
the Wawatay News website,2the communities' websites,the newspaperand
forand
ways
in
several
reused
and
used
be
can
radio program. Thus, one story
mats. That people in these remote First Nation communities are able to utilize
technologieslike the internet, is mainly due to the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net),3
which is one of canada's and the world's leading indigenousICT organizations.
K-Net - Digital Media Technologies for First Nation Communities
ln the early phasesofglobal internet technology distribution, one ofthe strongest reasonsfor indigenous peoples,groups and organizations"having a presence
on the Internet [was] to provide information from a viewpoint that may not have
found a voice in the mainstreammedia" (Cisler 1998, 20)' In the spring of 1994'
"
'
For more information see:<http://wawataynews'ca/>'
For more information see:<http://www.knet.ca>'
69
68
the Oneida First Nation of the State of New York were the first, worldwide, to
put an indigenous owned website online; some months before the first official
websiteof the White Housewent online (cf. Polly 1998).The BlackfeetConfederacy in Alberta establishedthe first aboriginal Canadianweb presenceone year
later(cf. Prins2002).
Landzeliusrefers to those "self-authoredengagements"ofindigenous peoples in ICT usageas "indigenouscyberactivism"(2003, 8; 2006a).In doing so,
shedistinguishesbetween'outreach'and'inreach'activities,which can be further
divided into different subcategoriesaccording to intended audience or objectives. Since the agendasof these "genresregularly crisscrossand are mutually
reinforcing", Landzelius suggeststo think of indigenous inreach and outreach
activities as a "spectrum of orientations"(2003, 8). Indigenous outreach initiatives via ICTs include public relations and tourism management,sovereignty
campaigns,liberation movements and common-causeparhlerships between indigenous and non-indigenous groups. The second category of indigenous ICTs
practices,identified by Landzelius (2003; 2006a),is oriented towards an intemal
public. These inreach activities cover public services (e.g. e-health and elearning), cultural revitalization, reconciliation, pan-indigenousnetworking and
personalizedcommunication and representation.
Since the mid 1990s, the Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) has provided ICT
servicesto First Nations in the remote region of Northwestem Ontario that fit
within the inreach as well as the outreachcategory.The organization/networkis
part of the Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) tribal council, which consistsof the
six OjiCree and Cree speaking First Nation communities of Deer Lake, Fort
Sevem,Keewaywin, McDowell Lake, North Spirit Lake, and Poplar Hill.
Besides offering technical infrastructure and support, K-Net established
someprograms and servicesthat have becomevery popular, not only among KO
tribal council members, but also among many other First Nation people within
the Nishnawbe Aski and beyond. Telehealth, the medical and health support
service offered via new media, in particular through video conferencing,allows
people to be treated within their own communities without incurring the expensive and exhausting havel time to hospitals in the urban centres of the South.a
And students can stay longer within their communities by attending the KO
Internet High School that offers a full grade 9 and l0 program.t These ICT supported programs are tailored for this remote and isolated region, where communities during the summer months can only be accessedby plane.
'
'
Cf. <http://telemedicine.knet.ca./>.
Cf. <http://kihs.knet.ca>.
The K-Net serviceI will concentrateon is MyKnet.org.6This serviceprovides free webspaceand e-mail addresses,particularly for the youth of the region's First Nation communities. In August 2008 there were more than 30'000
MyKnet.org accountslisted, 20,000 of which are quite likely to be actually used
to set up webpages.This number is particularly impressive, since the overall
population of the Sioux Lookout District in Northwestem Ontario, where the
KO communities, among other tribal councils, are situated,is 25,000 people living in an arearoughly equal to the size ofFrance'7
MyKnet.org was establishedin 2000 to provide a "safe and healthy on-line
space for young people" where they can construct their own personal webpresence(MyKnet.org 2006). Many of the personal homepagesin MyKnet.org
are usedto reflect directly on the daily life of people in a world on the margins,
where roads come to an end at the settlement'sborder and where friends and
families are split up to attend school or to find work in the urban South. Thus,
thesehomepagescan be consideredas local representationsof Aboriginal cultures, lives, and identities within the global technologiesof the intemet and the
World Wide Web.
Results of an online survey conducted in 2007 indicate that 47oÄ(N=992)
of MyKnet.org users are between 15 and 25 years of age (Budka 2008). Asked
aboutthe main reasonwhy they use MyKnet.org,TSoÄ(N:1202) statedthat they
use it for keeping in touch with family and friends. This online environment
supportsthe reconnecting and networking of family and füends by bridging temporal and spatialdistancesto chat, discuss,sharestories,music' and pictures.Sinceall
homepageusers have to register with their real and full name, it is relatively easy
for friendsand relativesto locatesomeone'spresencewithin MyKnet'org'
MyKnet.org is mainly a media technology that is used and discussedat
home and between family members and friends. People also (hyper)link their
homepagesprimarily to relatives and friends. Community and cultural events
are being celebrated and integrated on MyKnet.org by sharing photos, stories
and music. In doing so, the majority of users are able to maintain their personal
representationson the World Wide Web without the help of others. The online
social environment thus also becomesa learning spacewhere people leam how
to set up simple homepages,upload and edit pictures, and write diary/blog-like
texts and comments. This is also why MyKnet.org has been integrated into formal educationalsettingswithin schoolsand training courses.
'
t
Cf. <htto://mvknet.ors/>
MyKn.i.org is also b-eingusedby a lot of Aboriginal people outsidethis area,all across
Ontarioand its neighbouringprovinces.
70
MyKnet.org is of course not the only online social environmenton the
web. Ahnost half of the survey respondents(N:1204) also have a homepage
with other, commercially-orientedwebsite providers. In particular, social networking sitessuch as Facebookand Bebo are fast becomingpopularwithin First
Nation communities,Nevertheless,peoplekeep their MyKnet.org homepagesto
stay in touch with farnily and friends and to accessand exchangeinformation
about people and communitiesby browsing through this online environment.
That MyKnet.org is a dedicatedFirst Nation service,is anotherstrongreason
for
peopleto stay with it. A survey respondentdeclares:"[...] to have a native
web
page [...] for the whole world to see,i guess...LoL". Another respondent
wrrtes
that shelikes MyKnet.org becauseit providesan Aboriginal place in cyberspace:
"[..'] knowing nativepeoplehavea placeto visit on the www" (Budka200g).
As a'cyberactivist'project,MyKnet.org raisesquestionsabout how global
and local processesof identity constructionand self-representation
are negotl_
ated within this Aboriginal online environment.How do global and local
cultures, their representatives,
icons, and artefactsinteract on these self-authored
homepages?
How do people from the local communities"make themselvesa(t)
home in a transformingcommunicativeenvironment"(Miller & Slater2000,
l)?
Even thoughthis online social environmenthas very strongties to the local
First
Nation communitiesand the region of Northwestemontario, it is at the
same
tirne also part of the world wide web that connectsmiilions of webpages,
their
content,their producers,and users.
If usersand producersof MyKnet.orghomepagesconsiderthis online environmenttheir own spacewithin cyberspace,where they can make themselves,
their families, communities,and culturesat home, Appadurai reminds
us also
that "home" is not a simple construct,but a rather fragile "production
of locality" (qtd. in Landzelius2006a,3). In an agewhere different processes globalof
tzation,such as the transnationalflows of people,technologies,ideologies,
media, and money, are constantlyspeedingup, the production of localiry
is con_
stantlycontested.In addition,globalizedtechnologies,such as the intemet,
challengethe definition and the phenomenologyof locality, "leading to
repositionings in the experiencingand significanceof centresand peripheries,
and the
meaningaccordedthem" (Landzelius2006b.293).
Conclusion
The indigenouspeopleof Northern ontario staftedto develop their
own media
technologiesquite early. wawatay as well as K-Net have deproyed
media technologiessuchas radio, newspapersand the internetto give First Nation people
a
7l
voice,to connectcommunities,families and friends in remote areas,and to crein the global rnedialandscape.By concentrating
ate indigenousrepresentations
on the actual situationsand life worlds of Aboriginal people in Northern Ontario, both media producershave tried to develop culturally and linguistically
appropriatealternativesto the mainstreammassmedia.
Within the processesand practicesof mediatechnologyproduction,authorship as a "cultural principle" and conceptallows media producersto negotiate
and challenge authority, ownership and control over media technologies and
their content (Peterson 2003, 193). That is why community radio and
MyKnet.org,in particular,are popular as media technologiesdevelopedfor the
peopleofthis specific geographicand socio-culturalregion. Thesetechnologies
are easy to use and they strongly support communication and interaction, particularly in non-literateand oral societies.Schröderand Voell refer to this abiliry
of new media technologies,such as the internet, to support communication
modes in traditionally oral societies as "modern orality" (2002, l2). Whereas
community radio as an oral communication technology was introduced already
in the 1970s,and is thereforeparticularlypopular among the older generation,
MyKnet.org is used mainly by younger age groups that have learned to write
and speakprimarily in English.
Control and ownershipof media technologiesis also limited in respectto
the funding of thesetechnologies.Both indigenousmedia producershave been
dependenton non-indigenous funders such as governmental institutions and organizations.K-Net is investing, very successfully,a great deal of manpowerand
money in applying for regional and federalproject funds.Wawatay had to increase
the amount of commercial content in their media, which, e.g., for the bilingual
newspapermeansmore ads- and so lessspacefor indigenouslanguagecontent.
In producingmedia technologies,indigenouspeoplesalso contributeto the
constructingand reconstructingof their (cultural)identities,which in the caseof
MyKnet.org is influenced by the different worlds that First Nation teenagersin
pafiicular live in. Indigenous media can thus be understoodas tools for mediating culture and identity (cf. Ginsburg 2002b,216).
Do media practices,as describedin this paper, necessarilyfall into the
categoryof cultural and political activism, as both Ginsberg(1997,2002a) and
Landzelius(2003,2006a, 2006b) state?As long as indigenouspeople are excluded from the (mass) media discoursesof non-indigenoussocieties,which
consequentlyleadsto socio-cultural,political and economicdisenfranchisement,
all indigenousactivities and initiatives will continue to have an activist ap-
72
proach. New media technologies,and the internet in particular, hold a tremendous potential for indigenouspeoples'activism; as Kyra Landzelius emphasizes:
marginalized
peoples
arenot onlytakingroles,but in certainrespecr
[...] historically
'colonizing'
takingthe lead,as sawy, technoscientific
actorsthemselves
globalmedia
channels
andconverting
theminto fertilehabitatsfor theexercise
ofidentityandvoice
across
(2006b,300)
distance.
lnterviews
Brian Beaton(CoordinatorK-Net Services).personalInterview.July 2006.
Bryan Phelan(Editor WawatayNews). personalInterview. July 2006.
FlorenceWoolner (IndependentManagementand TelecommunicationConsultant).personal
Interview.July 2006.
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Aboriginal people in Canadaare continually struggling with colonial legacies:
geographicalcolonization- the displacementfrom anüor massivereductionof
traditionalland bases;cultural colonization- the forceful impositionof Westem
philosophies,values, norrns, religion, and govemmentaland social strucfures
upon their own; discursivecolonization- the genesisofneo/colonial discourses
that legitimize neo/colonialpolitics, uphold Westem cultural and political hegemonies,transmit neo/colonial views on the colonized 'others',and silence
Aboriginal voices and thoseof other marginalizedgroups;and mental colonization - the self-perceptionofthe colonial subjectsis channelledthroughcolonialist discourseand creates'colonizedminds'. Aboriginal people for the most part
perceivetheir own culturethroughthe eyes,mindset,writings, and lensesof the
colonizing group and 'learn' a Eurocentric framework of thought: Aboriginal
culturesand religions are inferior; Aboriginal people are def,icientin effectiveness,rationality,intelligence,and organizationalcompetence;Aboriginal people
are second-class
citizens.
In many realms of society, Aboriginal people battle for recognition,participation,and control over their own affairs as the many successfulland claim
settlementsand self-govemmentagreementsshow. Likewise in the media,they
are striving for participation and productive control over their images that are
fed into the mediascape.Their voicesare emergingin all kinds of mediaoutlets,
be it television,radio, news media,or film. An arrayof Aboriginal radio stations
bear witnessto this self-empoweringdevelopment- for example NCI FM in
Winnipeg, the Aboriginal Voices Radio network with its first and main station
in Toronto, the Wawatay Radio Nefwork in Sioux Lookout - as well as the first
Indigenoustelevision channel with a country-wide broadcast license in the
world, APTN. The tradition of Aboriginal documentaryfilm in Canadabeganin
the 1970s,when Alanis Obomsawinas the first Aboriginal personstartedto direct documentarieswith the NFB. Large-scaleAboriginal dramatizedfilmmaking had its beginningin the late 1990s,with the 1998CBC televisionmini series
Big Bear by Gil Cardinal,the first major Aboriginal film in Canadato receive