Ethics Statement

Thank you for visiting the Indigenous Computational Futures Collective. By visiting this site, we presume that you are interested in learning more about Indigenous approaches to technological change and innovation, or that you are part of the increasingly interconnected global community of Indigenous technologists. 

In this statement of ethics, we highlight values, principles, and resources to shape thoughtful, well-informed, and respectful scholarly discourse across the pluriverse of Indigenous peoples. Our goal is to innovate through collectively amplifying the distinct perspectives and capacities of the many, rather than by investing in only the most lucrative technologies and thinkers. We practice a deep respect and understanding for the lived experiences of Indigenous peoples.  For us, the work of sharing knowledge and understanding among Indigenous thinkers is also about exercising compassion, being witness and humble participants in experiences of transformation, maturation, and formations of historical consciousness that characterize many modes of Indigenous survivance, perseverance, and intergenerational knowledge-sharing.

The United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Informs Our Practice

We refer to the rights of Indigenous peoples as expressed in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The UNDRIP informs our ethics and methodologies for understanding technological change and computational innovation. It is an outcome of the work of generations of Indigenous leaders seeking justice for their peoples. We regard the formulation of the declaration as evidence of: our leadership as Indigenous peoples, the stakes in asserting Indigenous rights, and the global pattern of national and corporate colonization and economic exploitation of Indigenous peoples. For us, colonization is an observable pattern and system of intrusion that we, as Indigenous thinkers, resist in our everyday lives. 

We Rigorously Reflect on Our Technical Work To Advance Understanding of the Autonomy of Indigenous Peoples

In many countries, Indigenous peoples are classified as racial or ethnic minorities in a caste schedule. These classifications subjugate Indigenous peoples, and lead to the displacement and dispossession of Indigenous peoples from their lands, waters, and means of self-governance. Indigenous peoples’ autonomy does not depend on nation-state designation as a minority class. As many countries strive for social equality and economic advancement, they often simultaneously justify policies of assimilation, erasure, or genocide of Indigenous peoples. Amid this turmoil, the concept of the citizen becomes an economic persona, one which deeply contradicts the values, knowledges, and practices of Land-based Indigenous peoples. As Indigenous technologists, we are keenly aware of the economic, political, and commercial potential embedded in many of the systems we design or advance. Thus through rigorous reflection on technical projects, we advance theories and methodologies rooted in Indigenous peoples’ experiences of marginalization, innovation, and associated modes of defending autonomy and sovereignty.

Indigenous Thinkers and Colleagues Have a Right to Create Free from Harassment, Theft, Censorship, and Exploitation

Many Indigenous creatives have the remarkable ability to generate original work–both as individuals and within the communal sensibility of the tribe or people–with very little financial support, technical resources, and institutional support. This does not justify marginalization; rather, it indicates the will of individuals and peoples to advance knowledge despite disenfranchisement and a politics of fear. National policies that sanction exploitation of Indigenous peoples result in individual members of the public behaving as though they are entitled to curtail, refuse, and deny the findings of scientific investigations and scholarly work of Indigenous thinkers. Sometimes such behavior culminates in individuals or groups harassing or threatening Indigenous thinkers through false accusations, attacks on character, and hateful rhetoric. We assert that Indigenous peoples have a right to express themselves and pursue creative work free from harassment, including cyberharassment, slander, and attacks on their character or the character and rights of their people. Situated here in Arizona, we reference Arizona Revised Statutes 12-653.02 publication with actual malice; 13-1202 threatening or intimidating; 13-2916 use of an electronic communication to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass; 13-2921 harassment; and 13-2923 stalking, which are intended to deter and charge individuals who engage in interpersonal harassment through offline and online means. We also refer to UNDRIP Articles 11, 16, 23, 31, 32, and 39. It is an integral aspect of our dignity to create without fear.

We Abide by Research and Innovation in Partnership with Sovereign Native Nations and Autonomous Indigenous Peoples

Many ideologies of modern statehood justify settlement of Indigenous peoples’ lands and waters. As a result, individual members of the public behave as if they have a right to steal, plagiarize, copyright, misrepresent, and otherwise pirate the original works of Indigenous creatives and collective systems of knowledge of Indigenous peoples. ASU researchers are obligated to uphold Arizona Board of Regents policy 1-118: tribal consultation, a policy to ensure collaborative research in partnership with sovereign Native Nations, and to deter research that exploits or harms members of sovereign Native Nations. Through our research, we seek to advance the flourishing of Indigenous peoples, which occurs through a range of principles, including, but not limited to: the principles of the Global Indigenous Data Alliance, tribal institutional review board requirements, sovereign tribal regulation of research or activities on Indian lands, and the customary laws and practices of sovereign and autonomous Indigenous peoples. As such, we avoid reproducing or sharing works-in-progress of our Indigenous relatives without their express permission. We promote the incubation of ideas by emphasizing trust-building and Indigenous protocols of respect, reciprocity, accountability and relationality instead of private industry and academic pressure to urgently publish, patent, and perform.

We Uplift the Human Rights and Creative Contributions of Our Trans, Queer, and Two-Spirit Relatives, Disabled Relatives, Women, Children, and Relatives Fleeing Political Persecution and Instability

As Indigenous thinkers, we are conscientious of the global exploitation and persecution of LGBTQIA and Two-Spirit individuals, women, children, disabled people, stateless individuals, undocumented peoples, immigrants, and political refugees. Many of these individuals are our kin, colleagues, and neighbors. Many are rightful members of our Indigenous families, tribes, and sovereign Native Nations. We thus assert the human rights of LGBTQIA and Two-Spirit people, women, children, disabled people, and people seeking freedom from political instability in their exercise of freedom of expression, rights to protest, and rights to pursue original creative work free from harassment and threats of violence. Indeed, Indigenous thinkers generate robust and innovative technical solutions precisely through a conscientious understanding of interdependence and relationality as it functions everyday among friends and relatives within tribal communities, including across nation-state borders, and in transnational contexts. We learn from trauma-informed approaches to change. We understand that not all knowledges are for all peoples, and that many forms of knowledge and technological formations are intended for certain individuals or groups of individuals depending on the state of their relationships and where they are at in their life trajectories. We thus prepare learning and research environments to both affirm our dignity and inherent rights as Indigenous peoples while also reciprocating the fundamental dignity and rights of our kin from distant Lands and their future generations.