Circle of Voices is a three year research project involving Abenaki, Nehirowisiw/Atikamekw and Wolastoqiyik/Maliseet peoples in Quebec, Canada. It addresses the contemporary realities of First Nations’ cultures and identities through the stories of young women and knowledge holders. The research resulted in the website circleofvoices.com, where the user is invited to delve into cultural
... [Show full abstract] revitalisation through biographical narratives, multimedia recordings of traditional practices, and creative collaborative activities, being participatory photography, sharing circles and intergenerational dance workshops. The vision of Circle of Voices is to counteract the demeaning representations of Indigenous cultures and identities, and to contribute to the digitisation and dissemination of Indigenous knowledge. This thesis examines how the research project elicits and mediates anthropological knowledge about cultural revitalisation. I investigate how the use of non-human elements acted as influential technological mediators to the production of knowledge and shaping of relationships with Indigenous participants. The dynamic information that emerges from these socio-technical encounters was then transposed and classified on the website. While assembling digital visualisation technologies and multimedia ethnographic materials, I explore how locally situated knowledges were translated into an online space. I analyse the concerns it raises around the protection of Indigenous cultural heritage and the reification of the diverse expressions of contemporary Indigeneity. I also examine the socio-technical processes emerging in and around the website, such as practices of validity and accountability, and the multi-linearity of narratives. Finally, I reflect on the tensions, gifts and challenges of collaboration in contemporary Indigenous contexts, where I led the project as a white, French, female anthropologist with activist engagement. It is through these intricate human-technology relations that the knowledge presented in Circle of Voices is elicited, transformed and mediated. Embracing both the human and non-human world, Circle of Voices emerges as a meeting of species, where familiar partners, such as anthropological research and Indigenous knowledge, meet technological tools, design practices, and engaged positionality.
