Grounding Indigenous Rights

What is Local Contexts?

Local Contexts is a global initiative that supports Indigenous communities with tools that can reassert cultural authority in heritage collections and data. By focusing on Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property and Indigenous Data Sovereignty, Local Contexts helps Indigenous communities repatriate knowledge and gain control over how data is collected, managed, displayed, accessed, and used in the future.

Local Contexts recognizes the inherent sovereignty that Indigenous communities have over knowledge and data that comes from their lands, territories, and waters.

Local Contexts Labels and Notices were created to ground intellectual and cultural property rights in cultural heritage, data, and genetic resources within digital environments.

The Labels and Notices are generated and managed using the Local Contexts Hub.

Indigenous communities

reinforce rights by applying TK and BC Labels

Traditional Knowledge (TK) and Biocultural (BC) Labels establish Indigenous cultural authority and governance over Indigenous data and collections by adding provenance information and contextual metadata (including community names), protocols, and permissions for access, use, and circulation.

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Institutions and researchers

disclose interests by placing Notices

Black square with the letters BC in the middle in white.

Notices are tools for institutions, repositories, and researchers to support ethical use and reinforce relationships with Indigenous communities. They also work to educate the public around Indigenous rights and interests in historical and future collections and data.

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What is the Local Contexts Hub?

The Local Contexts Hub is a web portal that enables the customization of Labels by Indigenous communities and the generation of Notices by institutions and researchers. Labels and Notices can be applied to Local Contexts Projects created within the Hub depending on the account type.

Community

Community accounts can customize TK and BC Labels to display local and traditional protocols. The Labels are used as digital signifiers to explain how Indigenous history and culture is accessed and used going forward. These Labels can be attached by community accounts to Local Contexts Projects.

Institution

Institution accounts can apply Notices to Local Contexts Projects. Local Contexts Projects document information about a particular item, collection, sample, etc. Applying Notices allows institutions to engage acknowledge, and make visible Indigenous interests in collections, information, and data.

Researcher

Researcher accounts are specifically for independent researchers. Researcher accounts are very similar to institution accounts but only have one member, the account creator. Researchers can apply Notices to Local Contexts Projects that document particular data or research you may have conducted.

Hub Users

51

Communities

58

Institutions

194

Researchers

34

Countries

Learn More About Local Contexts and the Hub
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Upcoming Events

Open Repositories 2025

June 15, 2025 - June 18, 2025
 
“Open Repositories 2025. The 20th international conference. Chicago, USA.” Logo of Chicago city skyline

On June 15, Software/Web Developer Ashley Rojas will present in-person in Chicago, IL, USA, as part of the annual meeting of the 20th International Conference on Open Repositories. Ashley will present as part of “Advancing Indigenous Data Sovereignty through Dataverse and Local Contexts Integration,” which will give an overview of the Dataverse Local Contexts integration …

Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections annual meeting

May 27, 2025 - May 31, 2025
 
“SPNHC 2025. KU Biodiversity Institute. The University of Kansas.” Logo of SPNHC 2025, an illustration of a dinosaur skeleton entwined with a University of Kansas building. Background photograph of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute buildings.

On May 29, Outreach Coordinator Amy June Breesman (Eastern Shawnee/German/Irish) will present in-person in Lawrence, Kansas, USA, as part of the annual meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections. Amy June will present “Integrating Local Contexts Labels and Notices as an additive tool for Indigenous People’s sovereignty in collections management,” which …

Society of Ethnobiology Annual Conference

May 23, 2025
, 16:30 UTC
Event poster for the Society of Ethnobiology 46th Annual Conference. “Local Contexts session: Cultural Stewardship and Waymaking with Local Contexts Labels and Notices. Hybrid: May 23, 2025, 9:30 am PDT. Details: https://ethnobiology.org/conference/. Conference logo is stylized digital illustration of Wèš (Wehsh [chickadee]) sitting on a pinyon pine branch with a background of Dá awaga (Lake Tahoe).

On May 23, Local Contexts Outreach Coordinator Amy June Breesman will present an oral session, “Cultural Stewardship and Waymaking with Local Contexts Labels and Notices,” at the Society of Ethnobiology 46th Annual Conference, held in Reno, Nevada, US and online. In this virtual introductory session, attendees will learn about the global work of Local Contexts. …

Cultural Institutions Working Group meeting

May 12, 2025
, 21:00 UTC
“Working Groups and Networks.” Text on decorative orange background.

The next Cultural Institution Working Group meeting will be held May 5 UTC. This meeting is being held after the April 29 UTC webinar about recent updates to the Hub, including the introduction of the Hub subscription program, to create space for an informal follow-up discussion to share resources, questions, and thoughts in a smaller …

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