Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance

Indigenous Data Sovereignty & Governance

"Data are not a foreign concept in the Indigenous world. Indigenous peoples 'have always been data creators, data users, and data stewards. Data were and are embedded in Indigenous instructional practices and cultural principles.'"

–Stephanie Russo Carroll

Concerned by the current state of the data available for tribal and community decision making--including census, health, social services, and environment--and by Native nation’s limited control over their data, NNI researchers and a network of colleagues and collaborators are addressing the need for tribes to drive their data agendas through practicing Indigenous data sovereignty and governing their information. Indigenous data sovereignty is the right of a nation to govern the collection, ownership, and application of its own data. It derives from tribes' inherent right to govern their peoples, lands, and resources.

Learn more about this work at the
Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance website.

Select Publications & Projects

Indigenous Peoples' right to sovereignty forms the foundation for advocacy and actions toward greater Indigenous self-determination and control across a range of domains that impact Indigenous Peoples' communities and cultures. Declarations for sovereignty are rising throughout Indigenous communities and across diverse fields, including Network Sovereignty, Food Sovereignty, Energy Sovereignty, and Data Sovereignty...

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Tribal Data Governance For Indigenous Community Climate Resilience

Tribal communities have the right to define, collect, protect, interpret, manage, and apply data in a way that respects Indigenous ethics, values, and relational responsibilities. These rights are critically relevant in the context of increasing climate impacts, where Indigenous communities need access to culturally relevant data to inform effective decision-making and to strengthen climate resilience...

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Issues in Open Data- Indigenous Data Sovereignty

Open data in the context of Indigenous peoples is a double-edged sword. Open data is a site of tension for Indigenous peoples. Open data provides opportunities for sustainable development according to Indigenous aspirations, yet also sits at the nexus of current and historic data challenges as a result of colonisation, bias, and a lack of knowledge of Indigenous rights

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Policy Brief Indigenous Data Soveriegnty in the United States

We live in the information age. Governments, industries, and organizations of all kinds are claiming a right to gather information on everything from our spending habits to our health records. Data has become a global currency, a valuable asset, and a source of power. Native nations are part of this data revolution, but encounter distinctive obstacles to fully realizing the power of data...

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Indigenous data sovereignty challenges conventional, western colonial data practices, which have been utilised against Indigenous peoples since colonisation and continue to be used against them in the digital environment. The authors set out the context for, and emergence of, IDS movements and provide an overview of IDS developments including the IDS networks such as Te Mana Raraunga, the Maori Data Sovereignty Network in Aotearoa/New Zealand...

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Indigenous Data Sovereignty in Arizona Setting an Agenda

Indigenous data sovereignty asserts the rights of Native nations and Indigenous Peoples to govern the collection, ownership, and application of their own data. Indigenous data sovereignty derives from tribes’ inherent right to govern their peoples, lands, and resources. In the United States and internationally, Indigenous data sovereignty has grown in recognition and action over the past five years...

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All ID SOV & GOV Publications