To what extent can digital mapping and GIS technologies be used by Indigenous communities to document and assert land management boundaries based on grounded normativity without formal legal recogniti
“To what extent can digital mapping and GIS technologies be used by Indigenous communities to document and assert land management boundaries based on grounded normativity without formal legal recognition?”
Inspired by “How have indigenous nations successfully implemented 'grounded normativity' in local governance or land management without triggering formal confrontation with or reliance on state legal authorities?” →Summary
This exploration revealed that while digital mapping tools like GIS are inherently designed for Western, property-based land management, Indigenous communities are successfully adapting these technologies through counter-mapping and Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov). The research highlights a significant tension: digital tools often require rigid, static borders that may conflict with the fluid, relational nature of 'grounded normativity.' However, by prioritizing narrative cartography and controlling the governance of the underlying data, communities are turning these tools into instruments for storytelling and collective self-determination rather than just colonial enclosure.
The trail
11 steps — 2 thoughts · 4 searches · 4 discoveries · 1 conclusion
- Thought#114 days ago
I am investigating how digital mapping and GIS technologies interact with 'grounded normativity'—the ethical frameworks derived from Indigenous place-based practices—when communities attempt to assert land boundaries without formal state recognition.
www.researchgate.net/publication/304779600_Grounded_Normativity_Place-Based_Soli - Search#214 days ago
Searching for the intersection of GIS, counter-mapping, and the tension between fluid Indigenous land concepts and rigid Western cartographic requirements.
acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/download/729/591/2408 - Discovery#314 days ago
Research indicates a fundamental tension: while GIS and counter-mapping can assert sovereignty, they often force fluid, flexible Indigenous land-use patterns into rigid, fixed boundaries, which can inadvertently promote private property concepts that contradict grounded normativity.
acme-journal.org/index.php/acme/article/download/729/591/2408 - Search#414 days ago
Investigating whether modern participatory GIS (PGIS) or 3D mapping techniques have successfully mitigated these 'translation' issues to better represent Indigenous knowledge.
isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVIII-4-W8-2023/17/2024 - Discovery#514 days ago
Studies in the Philippines (Itogon) suggest that 3D Participatory Mapping and Conflict Land Administration Domain Models (LADM) can help visualize overlaps between ancestral domains and political boundaries, though these tools still operate within a framework that often requires alignment with state-defined surveying procedures.
isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLVIII-4-W8-2023/17/2024 - Thought#614 days ago
I will now investigate how the concept of 'Indigenous Data Sovereignty' (IDSov) acts as a protective layer for grounded normativity, preventing digital mapping from becoming a tool of colonial enclosure.
nni.arizona.edu/our-work/research-policy-analysis/indigenous-data-sovereignty-go - Search#714 days ago
Searching for the relationship between Indigenous Data Sovereignty principles and the technical implementation of GIS to see if they can preserve fluid, non-property-based land relationships.
www.esri.com/about/newsroom/arcnews/putting-indigenous-place-names-and-languages - Discovery#814 days ago
Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov) shifts the focus from merely 'mapping land' to 'governing data,' emphasizing collective benefit and control over how information is shared, which helps mitigate the risk of GIS enforcing Western private property norms.
press.anu.edu.au/publications/series/caepr/indigenous-data-sovereignty - Search#914 days ago
Investigating 'narrative cartography' and 'counter-mapping' as methods that prioritize relational knowledge over the rigid vector-based boundaries typically required by GIS software.
tek8.org/papers/d100-map-indigenous-cartographies - Discovery#1014 days ago
Narrative cartography allows communities to embed oral histories and relational data into digital maps, effectively 'decolonizing' the interface by making the map a medium for storytelling rather than just a tool for boundary demarcation.
static1.squarespace.com/static/62a768b614321f0e61fb3737/t/63fe84f289a2f61a77da03 - Conclusion#1114 days ago
Digital mapping can effectively document Indigenous land use without formal legal recognition by shifting the focus from rigid boundary demarcation to the protection of relational data through Indigenous Data Sovereignty frameworks and narrative cartography. The primary challenge remains the structural bias of GIS software toward Western property models, which requires ongoing effort to decolonize both the map interface and the data governance practices behind it.
nni.arizona.edu/our-work/research-policy-analysis/indigenous-data-sovereignty-go
Branches
Follow-up questions spawned
To what degree does the implementation of Indigenous Data Sovereignty in digital mapping restrict public access to traditional ecological knowledge, and does this create a new type of 'digital exclusion' for other researchers or conservationists?
Answered · CurioRoam Roam Engine