Indigenous Virtual Territory

A Call To Create the Future

According to Professor Grace Dillon, the praxis of Indigenous futurism is to “invariably change the perimeters of sf[science fiction]” (Baudemann, 118; Dillon, 3). These perimeters of science fiction or sf, the shady outlines ‘out there’ in the universe have long been primed for unbounded exploration by writers, artists, and visionaries. The future remains a mysterious, yet-to-be embodied experience of space, time, and reality. The opportunity lies within the sf genre to generate prophecy and mankinds’ destiny which may not have to be a dystopian one.

Expressed within an Indigenous traditional world view, science fiction is seated within the speculative, the conjecturable, and the verisimilar. It is through these sf works of creative and visionary interrogations that we as the audience experience Indigenous futures, perhaps in the most spiritual way. Using aesthetic practices to reclaim Indigenous histories and voice over colonial assimilation and oppression, and activate a future Indigenous encounter with representations of themselves is vital to Indigenous communities. Creativity as a process has sustained Indigenous cultures in ways that differ from “the rest of society” according to world-renowned architect and activist, Douglas Cardinal. In the book, “The Native Creative Process”, he collaborated with Jeannette Armstrong, longtime activist, artist, and educator to elaborate on those differences.

Indigenous cultures have evolved over centuries with the understanding that harmony with nature was a sacred way of being. This spiritual essence carries the weight of “beingness”, as a creative potential, and expresses itself in a form of progress that is “non-destructive”. Both Cardinal and Armstrong agree that cooperation, reciprocity, and responsibility are fundamental to harmony and the answers we seek to solve world issues. If we understand ourselves as “sacred and precious”, Armstrong contends that we have the power to shift our worldview and make daily contributions of love, compassion, and respect that become routine. Indigenous creativity as a process is deeply imbedded in spiritual responsibility and recognizes “individual lives as the continuance of human dreams”. What she maintains, is the lives we live are tools of the mind that continue into the future. For Douglas Cardinal, a visionary architect, Indigenous creativity has evolved through exploration, teaching, and cooperation with adversarial worldviews. Indigenous creativity is establishing new ways to find harmony, through digital technology to acknowledge the sacred in cyberspace. This is possible through Indigenous futurisms as opportunity and praxis.

Indigenous futurisms as an art form is critically important, as is the current work of the Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF). The IIF online consortium is a collective and formal partnership between individual creators, scholars, business sector partners, educational institutions and Indigenous communities. Over the last three years, these individuals and groups have participated in developing symposiums, workshops, and residencies over five provinces in Canada. The multiple actors involved in the IIF online effort of aggregating collaborations and media works for the virtual environment is primarily designed to encourage Indigenous youths across Canada to develop skills related to digital technology and cyberspace navigation. Having technological literacy ensures Indigenous imaginaries are seated in the future narratives that require disruption.

The future remains mysterious. We shall continue to explore it through practices that extend our creative and technological skills beyond the dimensions of perceived limits. Indigenous futurisms as a method to examine that mystery, while in the studios, labs, and workplaces of Indigenous artists, creatives, visionaries, and youths, may be all there is left on the edge of a frontier where science fiction and art meet. Standing at the perimeters of change looking ‘out there’ into the universe, and seeing representations of themselves are Indigenous creatives. What is embedded in the future is the story about Indigenous Peoples as we are and who we can be, and not as we have been.

There is a call by the IIF to Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows to participate in research. Indigenous Youth with a desire to take part in workshops, residencies, and coming symposiums are also invited to apply and participate in IIF projects, workshops, and coming events. Based at Concordia University, inquiries can be forwarded to skawennati@gmail.com. Follow their social media platforms, or visit their website, http://abtec.org/iif/ and sign onto the mailing list.

Works Cited

Cardinal, Douglas, and Jeannette C. Armstrong. The Native Creative Process: A Collaborative Discourse between Douglas Cardinal and Jeannette Armstrong. Theytus Books, 1991.

Concordia University. N.d. Initiatives for Indigenous Futures, an Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace production http://abtec.org/iif/ . Web. 20 October, 2018.

Dillon, Grace L. Walking the Clouds: An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction. vol. 69., (2012) The University of Arizona Press.

Smith, D. L. Indigenous Futurisms: Why It’s Critical to the Future. (2018) Unpublished Manuscript, Ryerson University.