Indigenous Knowledges: a Digital Residency Exchange and Best Practices Pilot

A collaborative team from Diné College Special Collections and Kinyaa'áanii Charlie Benally Library (Navajo Nation) and working with museum, library and archive professionals from the Wellcome Collection (UK) and supported by scholars from University of Arizona Southwest Center (US), and University of Kent Centre for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies, propose to develop a reciprocal, consultative model for collaborative digital decolonizing of indigenous materials. This model pairs a UK cultural heritage collecting institution with a US tribal college library that fulfills plural functions as library, museum, archive, and cultural heritage institution in its community. Kinyaa'áanii Library and Wellcome Collection will exchange three-week residencies on location, followed by digital residencies for the remaining period of the grant. Using the open-source content management system Local Contexts Hub, the Diné College Research Fellow (DCRF) and University of Kent Research Assistant (UKRA) will identify areas of need to serve as the basis for a larger funding proposal on collaborative strategies of decolonization and reciprocal information-sharing for digitized indigenous materials between US tribal college libraries and UK heritage institutions. The focus will be parallel sample selections of items from Kinyaa'áanii Special Collections and Wellcome. The proposed outcome is to develop and test a working model of digitally-achieved transatlantic reciprocal collaboration between a a tribal college library and archives and a heritage collecting institution. University faculty will provide research context for the project, practical project management, and mentoring for the DCRK and UKRAFellows. By cross-training via the Local Contexts platform, the exchange will lead to two outcomes: 1) a reciprocal digital working model as policy, methodologies, and practical applications begin to be developed collaboratively; 2) a culminating, symposium directed to cultural heritage professionals and tribal college librarians. A collateral goal is to establish a consultative community of practice and model for future digital exchange residencies between U.K. GLAM professionals and North American tribal college LAM professionals.