News/Research
10 Aug, 2020

Announcing the 2020-2021 History and Theory of New Media Season

Image: "Renewal" (2016) by Skawennati

This year, we are thrilled to share that our theme for the 2020-2021 series is Indigenous Technologies.

Indigenous Technologies is a program of the Berkeley Center for New Media that engages questions of technology and new media in relation to global structures of indigeneity, settler colonialism and genocide in the 21st century. Our Indigenous Tech events and ongoing conversations with Indigenous scholars and communities aim to critically envision and reimagine what a more just and sustainable technological future can look like. We will highlight Indigenous engagements with robotics, computer science, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, social media, online activism, video games, and more.

The History and Theory of New Media Lecture Series brings to campus leading humanities scholars working on issues of media transition and technological emergence. The series promotes new, interdisciplinary approaches to questions about the uses, meanings, causes, and effects of rapid or dramatic shifts in techno-infrastructure, information management, and forms of mediated expression. Presented by the Berkeley Center for New Media, these events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted.

For a full description of the series, along with further resources on the topic, check out our Indigenous Technologies page here.

2020

09/10 | 5 — 6:30 PM | A Conversation with the Sogorea Te' Land Trust
Corrina Gould, Lisjan Ohlone leader
Moderated by Marcelo Garzo Montalvo
Join us for a conversation with the Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. Starting in Fall 2020, BCNM commits to paying an annual Shuumi Land Tax, a small step towards acknowledging the history of genocide on this land and contributing to its healing, as well as embarking on our Indigenous Technologies Initiative.

POSTPONED | Advancing Hollow Bone Narratives through Media Platform Connectedness
Ruth Hopkins, Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer

11/5 | 5 — 6:30 PM | World Re-Building: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures
Skawennati, Artist & Co-Director of Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace and Skins Workshops in Aboriginal Storytelling in Digital Media
Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice

2021

2/3 | 5:00-6:30 PM | Indigenous Cyber-relationality: Discerning the Limits and Potential for Connective Action
Marisa Duarte, Assistant Professor, Arizona State University
Co-sponsored by the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, the School of Information, and the Center for Race and Gender Studies.

3/1 | 6:30-8:00 PM | A Conversation on Wildfire Ecologies
Margo Robbins, Co-founder and President of the Cultural Fire Management Council
Valentin Lopez, Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust
Moderated by Alexii Sigona
Presented in partnership with Berkeley Arts + Design as part of Arts + Design Mondays
Regsiter here.

4/22 | 5:00-6:30 PM | Indigenous Games
Elizabeth LaPensée, Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Co-sponsored by the Department of Art Practice
Register here.

Accessibility

BCNM events are free and open to the public. All of our events for the 2020-2021 academic year will be held on Zoom in English, in Pacific Standard Time (PST). We provide live-captioning in Zoom and offer a separate Streamtext window for live-captioning with options to customize text size and display. We strive to meet any additional access and accommodation needs. Unless otherwise noted, we publish videos and transcripts of all of our events. Please contact info.bcnm [at] berkeley.edu with requests or questions.