Policy Brief: Indigenous Data Sovereignty in the United States

Year

We live in the information age. Governments, industries, and organizations of all kinds are claiming a right to gather information on everything from our spending habits to our health records. Data has become a global currency, a valuable asset, and a source of power. Native nations are part of this data revolution, but encounter distinctive obstacles to fully realizing the power of data.

Purpose

This policy brief is a call to action on Indigenous data sovereignty. It defines the terms “data” and “data sovereignty,” explains the data-sovereignty rights of Native nations, describes the data history of Native nations, and offers recommendations for decolonizing data and asserting Indigenous data sovereignty.

Resource Type
Citation

Rainie, Stephanie Carroll, Desi Rodriguez-Lonebear, and Andrew Martinez. 2017. Policy Brief: Indigenous Data Sovereignty in the United States. Tucson: Native Nations Institute, University of Arizona.

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