University of Washington Press Network Sovereignty: Building the Internet across Indian Country (Indigenous Confluences)

In 2012, the United Nations General Assembly determined that affordable Internet access is a human right, critical to citizen participation in democratic governments. Given the significance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to social and political life, many U.S. tribes and Native organizations have created their own projects, from streaming radio to building networks to telecommunications advocacy. In Network Sovereignty, Marisa Duarte examines these ICT projects to explore the significance of information flows and information systems to Native sovereignty, and toward self-governance, self-determination, and decolonization. By reframing how tribes and Native organizations harness these technologies as a means to overcome colonial disconnections, Network Sovereignty shifts the discussion of information and communication technologies in Native communities from one of exploitation to one of Indigenous possibility. Review Across desert mountains and seasonal rainstorms, through colonial disconnection and deprivation, moving like water, Duarte weaves her words into a technoscape not unlike tribes weaving their ICTs, with defined purpose, connecting past and future through the lineage, relationship, and community dreaming.--Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal Review Network Sovereignty is an elegant, clear-headed, and complex account of information and communication technologies across Indian Country. Author: Kim TallBear, author of Native American DNA: Tribal Belonging and the False Promise of Genetic Science From the Author Marisa Elena Duarte is assistant professor of justice and sociotechnical change with the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University. About the Author Marisa Elena Duarte is assistant professor of justice and sociotechnical change with the School of Social Transformation at Arizona State University.