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.