Ep. 31: Indigenous Data Sovereignty with Kirikowhai Mikaere and Shania Kee

On April 11th and 12th, 2024, I had the opportunity to attend the first national conference called, The U.S. Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Governance Summit hosted at the Casino Del Sol – Conference Area. I learned that Indigenous Data Sovereignty is, “To recognize Indigenous Peoples’ inherent rights to access, use, and steward data critical for effective governance, and to govern those data according to their own values, principles, and practices.” The purpose of the summit was to convene Indigenous leaders, Indigenous community programs, academics, policy experts, and other data actors and rights holders from across the nation, both in person and virtually, to develop guidance around appropriate data governance structures that support Indigenous Peoples’ own Indigenous Data Sovereignty initiatives. While at this summit I learned about so many topics and ways Indigenous people across the world are thinking critically about data in their own communities and how they are utilizing it in beneficial ways. In this episode you will hear two short interviews that feature two Indigenous women who presented their work and shared their experiences working in data. The first interview features Kirikowhai Mikaere (Te Arawa – Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue) from New Zealand, who is a leading Māori data and information specialist focused on harnessing information to empower indigenous community development. She is a consultant with over 20 years’ experience advising Ministers, government agencies, tribal, community and private sector organizations with practical statistical analysis and innovative place-based data solutions. The second short interview features Shania Kee (Diné – Navajo) from Pinon, Arizona. She is a Junior Law Library Fellow at the Daniel F. Cracchiolo Law Library, pursuing an M.A. in Library and Information Science at the University of Arizona’s iSchool. During the summit Shania presented on her work titled, “SAAD EÍ DATA: Formalizing the Indigenous Data Sovereignty Movement within the Navajo Nation Legal System, A Comparison to the Māori’s Data Governance Model.”