Lenapehoking Summit 2023

The first Local Contexts Summit was held on May 10, 2023. The Summit brought together people from across the Local Contexts community focusing on Indigenous authority, control, and governance over Indigenous knowledges and data in the humanities and the sciences. Following the Summit was the premiere of “Awasəwehlαwə́lətinα wikəwαmok – They Returned Home,” a film by the Penobscot Nation and Local Contexts.

We thank everyone who contributed to this exciting event and who continue building the international Local Contexts community.

Local Contexts Summit

Indigenous community representatives shared about the use of the Labels in their community context as well as the potential of the Labels to change relationships and to assert authority and sovereignty. Institutions working with the Notices discussed changing workflows and developing new partnerships with communities. Important implementation examples were highlighted for the techies among us. The Summit was structured as a series of panels, presentations, and collaborative audience discussions.

The Summit took place at the Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA) in Lenapehoking (225 West 13th Street, New York, NY), and was streamed online.

Film Screening

Following the Summit was the premiere of “Awasəwehlαwə́lətinα wikəwαmok – They Returned Home.” This film by the Penobscot Nation and Local Contexts charts the groundbreaking work undertaken by the Penobscot Nation to reposition Penobscot cultural authority within institutions in Maine and beyond. Following the screening was a discussion with Jennifer Neptune (Penobscot), James Eric Francis, Sr. (Penobscot), Darren Ranco (Penobscot), and filmmakers Andreas Burgess and Jane Anderson, and a reception.

The screening, panelist discussion, and reception took place at Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan.

The film is now available online here.

Schedule

Times are in EDT (UTC-4)

10 am – 12 pm	Labels and Notices in Context Featured and future projects Current and potential use of the Labels Examples of implementation Future possibilities
12 – 1:30 pm	Lunch Break
1:30 – 4 pm	Scaling the Labels and Notices Institutional responsiveness and researcher responsibilities CARE Principles and data repositories Future possibilities Capacity needs
6:30 – 9 pm	“Awasəwehlαwə́lətinα wikəwαmok – They Returned Home” Premiere Film screening Panelist discussion Reception

Speakers

Emily Johnson (Yup’ik Nation), Catalyst Dance

Emily Johnson is an artist who makes body-based work. She is a land and water protector and an organizer for justice, sovereignty and well-being. Emily is a Bessie Award-winning choreographer, Guggenheim, Natiive Arts and Cultures Foundation, and United States Artists Fellow, and recipient of the Doris Duke Artist Award. She is based in Lenapehoking / New York City. Emily is of the Yup’ik Nation, and since 1998 has created work that considers the experience of sensing and seeing performance. Her dances function as portals and care processions, they engage audienceship within and through space, time, and environment — interacting with a place’s architecture, peoples, history and role in building futures. Emily is trying to make a world where performance is part of life; where performance is an integral part of our connection to each other, our environment, our stories, our past, present and future

Felicia Garcia (Samala Chumash), Local Contexts

Felicia is the Community Outreach Manager. Felicia supports Indigenous communities to customise and apply Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Notices, join and use the Local Contexts Hub, and engage with collecting and research institutions. Felicia, a member of the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians (Samala Chumash), earned her BA in Psychology at Willamette University and her MA in Museum Studies at New York University. Her master’s thesis focused on the need for Indigenous land acknowledgements in United States museums and led to the development of a guide to land acknowledgements for cultural institutions (http://landacknowledgements.org/). Felicia strives to use her position as a museum professional to carve out space for Indigenous people to tell their own stories so that our communities both see themselves in these spaces and feel seen.

Monique Tyndall (Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans), Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans

Monique Tyndall is the Cultural Affairs Director for the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans. She earned her BA in Museum Studies from the Institute of American Indian Arts and her MA in Cultural Sustainability from Goucher College. Monique was also a member of the 2019-2020 Tribal Digital Stewardship Cohort hosted by the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation at Washington State University. 

Darren Ranco (Penobscot Nation), University of Maine

Darren J. Ranco, PhD, a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, is a Professor of Anthropology, Chair of Native American Programs, and Faculty Fellow at the Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions at the University of Maine. He has a Masters of Studies in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School and a PhD in Social Anthropology from Harvard University. His research focuses on the ways in which Indigenous Nations resist environmental destruction by using Indigenous science and diplomacies to protect their natural and cultural resources. He teaches classes on Indigenous intellectual property rights, research ethics, environmental justice and tribal governance. As a citizen of the Penobscot Nation, he is particularly interested in how better research relationships can be made between universities, museums, Native and non-Native researchers, and Indigenous communities.

Keolu Fox (Kānaka Maoli), University of California San Diego and ENRICH Global Chair (2022-2023)

Keolu Fox, PhD is a co-founder of the Native BioData Consortium (NBDC) and an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), where he also co-founded and co-directs the Indigenous Futures Institute. He has extensive experience in designing and engineering genome sequencing and editing technologies and focuses on the connection between raw data and the value of genomic health data from Indigenous communities. As the first Kānaka Maoli to receive a doctorate in genome sciences, he has a decade of grassroots experience in advancing precision medicine with Indigenous partners.

Krystal Tsosie (Diné/Navajo), Arizona State University and ENRICH Global Chair (2022-2023)

Krystal Tsosie (Diné/Navajo Nation), PhD, MPH, MA, is an Indigenous geneticist-bioethicist and Assistant Professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University. As an advocate for Indigenous genomic data sovereignty, she co-founded the first US Indigenous-led biobank, a 501c3 nonprofit research institution called the Native BioData Consortium. 

Her research can be encapsulated in two main foci: Indigenous population genetics and bioethics. In particular, she focuses on bioethical engagement of Indigenous communities in genomics and data science to build trust. As a whole, her interest is in integrating genomic and data approaches to assess Indigenous variation contributing to health inequities. 

She currently serves on the Government Policy and Advocacy Committee for the American Society of Human Genetics and the National Academy of Medicine Announces Committee on Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation. She is a current Global Chair in ENRICH, which focuses on enhancing Indigenous rights to develop, control, and govern Indigenous data and supports participation in STEM and in digitally‐enabled futures.

Stephanie Russo Carroll (Ahtna), Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance, Native Nations Institute and ENRICH Global Chair (2020-2021)

Stephanie Russo Carroll (Ahtna-Native Village of Kluti-Kaah and Sicilian-descent) is Assistant Professor in the Public Health Policy and Management Program at the Community, Environment and Policy Department, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health; Assistant Research Professor, Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy; Associate Director, Native Nations Institute; Assistant Professor, American Indian Studies Graduate Interdisciplinary Program; and Co-Director, Center for Indigenous Environmental Health Research at the University of Arizona.

Stephanie’s research explores the links between Indigenous governance, data, the environment, and community wellness. Her interdisciplinary lab group, the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance, develops research, policy, and practice innovations for Indigenous data sovereignty. Stephanie co-founded the US Indigenous Data Sovereignty Network and the International Indigenous Data Sovereignty Interest Group at the Research Data Alliance, and is a founding member and current chair of the Global Indigenous Data Alliance (GIDA). She lives and works on the unceded traditional homelands of the Tohono O’odham Nation and the lands of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.

Riley Taitingfong (CHamoru), Native Nations Institute

Riley Taitingfong is a researcher and educator working on issues of environmental justice, Indigenous self-determination, emerging technologies, and community engagement. She completed her PhD in Communication at the University of California San Diego, where her project focused on Indigenous governance of genetic engineering technologies known as gene drives. Riley is currently a postdoctoral researcher with Udall and the Native Nations Institute, working on the implementation of CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance within data repositories. As a CHamoru researcher, Riley is committed to building cross-movement solidarity among Indigenous communities from Oceania to Turtle Island.

James Eric Francis, Sr. (Penobscot Nation), Penobscot Nation and Local Contexts

Penobscot Nation’s Tribal Historian and is studying the relationship between Maine Native Americans and the Landscape. Prior to working at the Penobscot Nation, James worked for the Wabanaki Studies Commission helping implement the new Maine Native American Studies Law into Maine schools and has managed a team of teachers and cultural experts in developing curriculum.

James co-produced a film on race relations in Maine. “Invisible” looks at the problem of racism as it pertains to Native American people in Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. Recently James conducted an extensive Oral History Project for the Penobscot Nation. This project brought to life historical pictures and highlighted a community history that cannot be found in books. He was the curator of Penobscot History in Bangor Maine, an exhibit for the Bangor Museum and Center for History, and more recently the guest curator of “Aunt Lu: The Story of Princess Watahwaso,” an exhibit at the Abbe Museum in Bar Harbor, Maine. James has also been a co-curator for exhibits at the Bangor Center for History, Hudson Museum, and Harvard University.

Jennifer Neptune (Penobscot Nation)

Jennifer Neptune is an artist, writer, herbalist, and has worked in the field of cultural preservation for over twenty-five years. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Maine. Jennifer has won national awards for her artwork, specializing in ash and sweetgrass baskets, beadwork, and porcupine quill jewelry. She has worked for the Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance for over twenty years preserving traditions of ash and sweetgrass basketry, helping other artists to sell and market their work, and most recently working collaboratively with the University of Maine Sustainability Solutions Initiative to help prepare for the eventual arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer in Maine. She enjoys being in the woods and on the water and is currently working towards earning a Maine Guides license. 

Takapau Flavell, Te Ihi Kā Roa Digitech (Whakatōhea)

Takapau Flavell is the Whakatōhea Taiao platform and TK Labels Coordinator at Te Ihi Ka Roa Digitech.

Jane Anderson, Local Contexts and New York University

Jane Anderson is an Associate Professor at New York University in Lenapehoking (New York) and Global Fellow in the Engelberg Center for Innovation Law and Policy in the Law School at NYU. Jane has a Ph.D. in Law from the Law School at University of New South Wales in Australia. Their work is focused on intellectual and cultural property law, Indigenous rights and the protection of Indigenous/traditional knowledge and cultural heritage.

For the last 20 years Jane has been working for and with Indigenous communities to find, access, control, and regain authority and ownership of Indigenous cultural and intellectual property collections and data within universities, libraries, museums and archives. Jane has worked in international policy contexts with the World Intellectual Property Organization and written international guidelines for cultural institutions supporting repatriation and restitution of Indigenous collections and accompanying intellectual property. With the Penobscot Nation in Maine, Jane runs training workshops for US-based Tribes on IP law, policy and support for tribal decision making about research conducted on Indigenous lands and waters.

Corrie Roe, Local Contexts

Corrie is the Local Contexts Institution Outreach Manager. In her role, Corrie supports staff at collecting and research institutions to apply Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Notices, join and use the Local Contexts Hub, and engage with Indigenous communities around the appropriate use of their Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels. Corrie earned a BA in Anthropology from the University of Vermont (2014) and a MA in Museum Studies from New York University (2018). Her roles with cultural and arts organizations in and around Lenapehoking (New York) have involved project management, community growth and support, public programming, and collections and exhibition research and management.

Marina McDougall, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University 

Marina McDougall is a curator and cultural leader with extensive experience working collaboratively towards the development of interdisciplinary projects in public learning environments. She lives in Philadelphia where she serves as the Vice President, Experience and Engagement at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. Marina was the founding director of the Center for Art & Inquiry at the Exploratorium in San Francisco; the first curator of art and design at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts; and a founding collaborator of the Studio for Urban Projects. She has also developed numerous projects as an independent curator; and taught in both the MFA and Curatorial Practice programs at California College of the Arts. Marina is the President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles; and serves on the board of Slought/Public Trust in Philadelphia. She is the curator of the multi-year public art project S(tree)twork now in its third year.

Andrew Rominger, University of Maine

Andy is Assistant Professor of Ecological Bioinformatics at the University of Maine in the School of Biology and Ecology, and the Maine Center for Genetics in the Environment. His work focuses on discovering general processes that drive the origin and maintenance of biodiversity using ecological and evolutionary theory in concert with novel data streams from large-scale inventories of the diversity of life. These inventories are increasingly enabled by next-generation sequencing methods such as eDNA and metabarcoding. Andy is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice in science. 

John Deck, GEOME

John is the founder of Biocode, LLC, as well as a staff programmer and research associate at the University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley Natural History Museums. For the last 20 years, John has worked on biodiversity informatics and connecting field biological samples to tissue samples, DNA sequences, and publications. He has built the Genomic Observatory MetaDatabase (GEOME) and projects annotating traits with ontology terms and building pipelines for assembling disparate data sources. John’s role in Local Contexts is in the technical architecture of the Hub components. John also owns and operates Deck Family Farm in Junction City, Oregon with his wife, five children, and two grand-children.

Shawna Sadler, ORCID

Shawna heads up Outreach & Partnerships at ORCID, building strategic relationships worldwide and exploring new opportunities for adoption and growth. In her spare time, Shawna can be found snowboarding, mountain biking, and trying to keep up with her quickly growing children.

Joshua Shaw, Dartmouth Library

Joshua Shaw is a web and application developer at Dartmouth Library and works with a variety of applications including ArchivesSpace, Omeka-S, Drupal, and other digital collection software. Recently, Joshua has been focused on developing solutions related to reparative description, indigenous rights management, and contextualizing and remediating material that may be harmful to marginalized communities.

Ann Mc Cartney, University of California Santa Cruz and ERGA Pilot Project

Ann obtained her PhD from Dublin City University. Since, she has carried out a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship for Manaaki Whenua (Genomics Aotearoa), and the NHGRI where she was also trained in NIH Office of Science Policy. Her multidisciplinary training across human and biodiversity genomics as well as across knowledge systems has fueled her research on positioning genomic infrastructures inside of the socio-political reality they exist within as well as developing frameworks of sustained engagement. Currently, Ann is an Assistant Researcher at UCSC (USA) and acts as the Director of the European Reference Genome Atlas’ Pilot Project, the Director of Science for the Biocomplexity Surveillance Alliance, and Co-chair of the Local Contexts Technical Implementation Working Group.

Andreas Burgess, Filmmaker

A two-time Emmy Award-winner, cinematographer Andreas Burgess has worked in fiction, non-fiction and the spectrum in between for over 20 years with work screening at Sundance, Cannes, TriBeCa, SXSW and Full Frame and on ABC, PBS, ESPN, FX, Showtime, and Hulu. His narrative credits include nine feature films, most recently Austin Alward’s “Tasmania” and Liz W. Garcia’s “One Percent More Humid.” Series credits include The New York Times‘ “The Weekly” (FX / Hulu), “Final Witness” (ABC), “The Last Defense” (ABC) and “A Crime To Remember” (Discovery). Other documentaries include Elisabeth Jame’’ “In So Many Words,” Sadia Shepard’s “The Other Half Of Tomorrow,” and most recently Purcell Carson’s “La Vida No Termina.” A graduate of Wesleyan University, Andreas is a lifelong fan of the Milwaukee Brewers and an avid barbecuer of marinated meats. He lives in New York City with his wife and children.

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