Since the arrival of settlers in the 16th century, the Canadian Government has dispossessed First Nations people of their land and culture through a history of colonialism. This has led to over a century of contentious relationships between First Nations and the Canadian Government in which First Nations have often struggled with the revitalization and reclamation of their culture and land due to oppressive systemic structures. Cartography has been one approach, among many, adopted by First Nations to facilitate self-determination in recent decades. However, the role of cartography has been one focused on western technocratic approaches of drawing territorial boundaries as part of the land claims process. Such approaches may assist First Nations in documenting land use and negotiating territorial rights and as such move them towards self-determination. Conventional western cartography is inherently incapable of representing the rich spatial nature of First Nations’ sense of cultural place. More recently, cybercartography has emerged due to technological advances in software and web-based publishing that has the potential to encapsulate First Nations’ oral history and culture by providing digital multimedia elements (i.e. audio, imagery, and video) within a digital spatial context. The use of cybercartography in this manner is quickly increasing over time, but research is lacking in understanding how new representations of First Nations history and culture through cybercartographic frameworks explicitly facilitate, or prohibit, First Nations ability to attain self-determination. To address this gap, this study evaluates the ways in which contemporary cybercartographic technologies may facilitate the process of self-determination through an application development and interview process with a local First Nation on Vancouver island, BC. The research process throughout the project are evaluated using the Indigenous principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) and uses this as a framework to understand how the experiences of the Nation relate to the broader narrative of self-determination. The results of this study suggest that using a community-engaged approach to cybercartography facilitates community-specific requirements of self-determination, mainly because community engagement can lead to the development of tools that match community objectives and needs. Furthermore, this study demonstrated that the OCAP principles have the potential to be used in future studies for evaluating the efficacy of technologies that are intended to facilitate self-determination in First Nation communities. / Graduate / 2021-04-16

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Miami University, Dept. of History, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 57-62).

A Geographic Information System visually communicates both spatial and temporal analyses and has been available for at least twenty years in New Zealand. Using a Kaupapa Māori Research framework, this research investigates the benefits and barriers for Māori if they were to adopt GIS to assist their development outcomes. Internationally, indigenous peoples who have adopted GIS have reported they have derived significant cultural development benefits, including the preservation and continuity of traditional knowledge and culture. As Māori development continues to expand in an increasing array of corporate, scientific, management and cultural arenas, the level of intensity required to keep abreast of developments has also expanded. GIS has been used by some roopū to assist their contemporary Māori development opportunities; has been suggested as a cost effective method for spatial research for Waitangi Tribunal claims; has supported and facilitated complex textual and oral evidence, and has also been used to assist negotiation and empowerment at both central and local government level. While many successful uses are attributed to GIS projects, there are also precautionary calls made from practitioners regarding the obstacles they have encountered. Overall, whilst traditional knowledge and contemporary technology has been beneficially fused together, in some instances hidden or unforeseen consequences have impeded or imperilled seamless uptake of this new technology. Challenges to the establishment of a GIS range from the theoretical (mapping cultural heritage) to the practical (access to data) to the pragmatic (costs and resources). The multiple issues inherent in mapping cultural heritage, indigenous cartography and, in particular, the current lack of intellectual property rights protection measures, are also potential barriers to successful, long-term integration of GIS into the tribal development matrix. The key impediments to GIS establishment identified by surveyed roopū were lack of information and human resources, and prioritisation over more critical factors affecting tangata whenua. Respondents also indicated they would utilise GIS if the infrastructure was in place and the cost of establishment decreased. Given the large amount of resources to be invested into GIS, and the opportunity to establish safe practices to ensure continuity of the GIS, it is prudent to make informed decisions prior to investment. As an applied piece of Kaupapa Māori research, a tangible outcome in the form of an establishment Guide is presented. Written in a deliberately novice-friendly manner, the Guide traverses fundamental issues surrounding the establishment of a GIS including investment costs and establishment processes.