http://silverbuffalo.org/NativeAmericanAcademy.html

The Native American Academy is a network of American native and non-native scholars and traditional knowledge holders. According to the site, the Academy has conducted research and campaigns for making the Native world view and Native science more visible.  

Given our module 1 discussion about technology’s impact on indigenous societies, it is noteworthy that The Native American Academy has researched the integration of new technology on indigenous culture and the features of “indigenous technology”, as linked to the site. The Academy’s recent project paper, entitled “Is it possible to have Information Technology that reflects Indigenous Consciousness?”,  provides very interesting discussions about “indigenous technologies”. The paper notes that indigenous technology aims “to enhance the ability to maintain and renew balance and harmony within a multi-dimensional, complex and interconnected environment” (p.6).

The Academy’s site does not seem to include sufficient resources which the Academy may have accumulated and explored. Despite the disappoinment with the Academy’s under-developed web-site resources, I found the Academy’s projects overall intriguing, especially since those studies aim to explore “new” possibility of “traditional” indigenous forms of technology and dialogues between indigenous and Western technologies.

Ky Yoon