The rise in video-based social media platforms such as TikTok has had a disruptive effect on the portrayal of North American Indigenous peoples in popular culture; these platforms allow Indigenous creators to share their cultural practices, sense of humour, and to voice grievances or explain existing prejudices through their own unique voice. Historically, the portrayal of North American Indigenous people in popular media has been with a skewed lens and a minimal focus on respectful representation. Films such as Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North have established ‘iconic’ images of Indigenous people, distorting the public perception of Indigenous cultures. The issue at hand is a lack of agency afforded to Indigenous communities to express their own culture in a way they feel is authentic and respectful of their practices. The film Nanook of the North is an interesting discussion point for this topic as there is some debate over the responsibility Flaherty had to accurately depict the Inuit. Some scholars argue that “Flaherty worked in conjunction with the Inuit to create an images from their perspective” (Zimmerman, 2015) whereas others contend that the film “perpetuates the then present-day ideology of the Inuit as a “cuddly primitive” people” and Tobing Rony argues “Flaherty fit the Inuit within preexisting Western European assumptions, rather than structuring “Nanook of the North” to challenge those preconceptions” (Zimmerman, 2015). Segments of the film include the main character amazed by the “the white man’s box in which singing and talking is so miraculously imprisoned [which] is a greater mystery than any of which he has ever dreamed.” (Rotha, 1980) This description and portrayal of Inuit in the film appears to be misrepresenting the facts as Flaherty’s own writings describe “the sophisticated response of the Inuit to new technologies. Flaherty apparently relied on the Inuits’ technical expertise to repair his photographic equipment” (Rotha, 1980). Rotha further describes how during the production of Nanook of the North, “the Inuit collaborated in determining scenes, repairing the camera (known as the “aggie”), and developing the film. He [Flaherty] screened rushes for Inuit. They staged hunting and the igloo building scenes for him. This collaborative style countered the Hollywood studio system” (1980). The lack of agency the Inuit had on the final edit and distribution of the film creates an imbalance between truthful and fictional representation of their culture.
This lack of agency is inherent when attempting to share a culture built around oral storytelling with dominant cultures that value written language. Dorothy Christian shares how “historically, the literature about the cultural stories of Indigenous peoples has been the subject of research and interpreted through the pervasive ethnocentric lens of such disciplines as, anthropology, literary studies, political science and education.” (2017) Christian further examines this issue by quoting Jeannette Armstrong, a Syilx storyteller and scholar, who asks “how do you tell an Indigenous story from within the Indigenous worldview but in the western literary prose tradition? What is the role of the narrator?” (Christian, 2017) It is important to find a medium through which Indigenous creators can translate the oral storytelling structure of important cultural foundations. The wide-reaching and widely-accessible nature of social media provides this medium. Wilson argues that “Aboriginal use of digital and social media is making significant headway in overcoming marginalization, […] the indigenous film gaze has become empowered by challenging conventional gazes and correcting misrepresentations.” (2015) A platform such as TikTok is incredibly effective as “content can be shared on other social media platforms in a facile fashion. Videos created in this application can be shared across numerous applications and on personal media sharing platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Instagram Stories, WhatsApp, and Facebook stories (among others).” (Hayes et al., 2020) Indigenous culture no longer need be represented solely through a monolithic and largely non-Indigenous entity such as Hollywood. There have been inroads made in the professional film industry such as Atanarjuat. The Fast Runner which was marketed as:
“the first feature film written, directed, acted, and produced by the Inuit. A cinematographic reprise of a traditional Inuit morality tale passed down orally through many generations, the film has been billed as “part of this continuous stream of oral history carried forward into the new millennium through a marriage of Inuit storytelling skills and new technology.” “An exciting action-thriller (!) set in ancient Igloolik,” it has promised “international audiences a more authentic view of Inuit culture and oral tradition than ever before, from the inside and through Inuit eyes.”” (Siebert, 2006)
An important aspect to agency is lowering the requirements for a population to engage effectively in which education plays a vital role. Hayes et al. further contend that “TikTok can be used to educate not only viewers of the videos and the general public but also those who created them, as TikTok can effectively enhance the communication and creativity skills of students.” (2020) This presents a challenge for myself as a non-Indigenous white male educator with a knowledge background deeply rooted in a sterilized written-language model. I do recognize my part to play in understanding and addressing a colonial education system that “assimilated Indigenous peoples… [and to champion] the concept of cognitive imperialism to counter the master narrative that Indigenous peoples were failures in the system.” (Christian, 2017) My experiences up in the Northwest Territories and witnessing my students struggle to engage with typical institutionalized schooling practices while engaging deeply with story-based learning and platforms that encouraged the telling and transfer of stories such as TikTok. As Christian shares, “it becomes clear how stories are at the center of Indigenous learning, which leads to transforming a system that historically does not serve Indigenous people.” (2017) TikTok, as a video based platform allows creators to:
“use the term “shared stories/conversations/experiences” to encompass [a] way of knowing and doing in completing this work. Although the use of English words is different, the end result is the same in that [they] am presenting new information… in a way that assists the [viewer] to bring meaning and understanding to the information in the “shared stories/conversations/experiences.” Further, this way of doing is more culturally congruent and consistent with an Indigenous paradigm. [Christian feels] it shows respect for the knowledge shared by the individual knowledge keepers and answers to a level of accountability that is embedded in the responsibility [they] carry” (Christian, 2017)
TikTok is not without its flaws. The platform has a chequered past of treatment of LGBTQ+ creators as well as censoring political statements made against mainland China. Arguably, no platform exists that allows the same balance of agency and wide spread that allows Indigenous creators to share their experiences and culture. This in and of itself may be an issue as “multiculturalism effectively demands that American Indians put their indigeneity on display […] it requires that the Indians themselves play Indian to help legitimate the multiculturalist democracies they cannot help but inhabit.” (Siebert, 2006) Many Indigenous creators on TikTok’s platform commonly reference the assumptions others make about them and their culture.
@brettstoise I’ll never not love doing these lol #nativehumor #nativeamerican #indigenous #nativetiktoks
Individuals such as Brett Mooswa and James Jones have used TikTok to satirize the questions they receive based on the public perception of their indigeneity. I feel this represents Wilson’s claim that “we would be better served with a term such as indigenous representational sovereignty—the use of a culture’s own logic to structure the process and the product of representing cultural concepts through media forms—rather than visual sovereignty alone.” (Wilson, 2015)
@notoriouscree To all those who show love, we appreciate you ✊???? #nativeamerican #native #indigenous #dance
A strength that a platform has which needs to be recognized by education is the collaborative nature of the platform where creators can create ‘duets’ or ‘stitches’ by interacting another user’s video or ‘Chain Mail’ videos which invite users “to ‘keep a trend going’, as is very popular among minority culture and Indigenous TikToks that showcase the beautiful varieties of material cultures around the world” (Abidin, 2021). As an educator it is vitally important to take notice of disruptive technologies that are altering the literacies young people are developing fluencies in. Abidin shares how social media is encouraging young people:
“to creatively strategise over personalising their message for young peers across various subcultures and interest groups. This has lowered the barriers of entry and expanded the repertoire of what it means to be ‘politically active’, placed value on creative social media skillsets that young people feel confident in, and normalized the idea that being politically involved is not a niche but can be an everyday staple in one’s social media diet.” (Abidin, 2021)
The active role afforded to users of social media as well as the collaborative storytelling platform provided by TikTok allows Indigenous creators a greater ability to exercise sovereignty over the messages and content related to the cultures in circulation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Indigenous communities have turned to a digital space to practice and share their culture where Leonard et al. claim that “as Indigenous Peoples, we have an inherent responsibility and right to “exercising” sovereignty – the practice of sport and physical activity in performance of our cultural, political, and spiritual citizenship” (2020). These digital platforms create opportunity to strengthen communities and resiliency as “Indigenous Peoples utilize social media […] to reimagine Indigenous sport and physical activity in digital spaces such as the “Social Distance Powwow.”” (Leonard et al., 2020)
Observation of the TikTok platform and its use of Indigenous creators helps highlights important literacies and processes that translate to my role in Education. The medium of video allows for an authentic storytelling or oral tradition to be passed down; the sounds of story and dance can be conveyed in a proper and respectful manner; the imagery of location and ceremonial gear can be similarly shared in a respectful fashion; and it provides an opportunity for Indigenous creators to make their voice heard. As we move forward in collaboration with our Indigenous students, it is vital to ensure we are providing them with the agency to share and celebrate their culture utilizing the literacies that best suit them.
References
Abidin, C. (2021). Mapping Internet celebrity on TikTok: Exploring attention economies and visibility labours. Cultural Science Journal, 12(1).
Christian, D. (2017). Gathering knowledge: Indigenous methodologies of land/place-based visual storytelling/filmmaking and visual sovereignty (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia).
Hayes, C., Stott, K., Lamb, K. J., & Hurst, G. A. (2020). “Making Every Second Count”: Utilizing TikTok and Systems Thinking to Facilitate Scientific Public Engagement and Contextualization of Chemistry at Home.
Jones, J. [notoriouscree] (2020, Dec 7). To all those who show love, we appreciate you [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@notoriouscree/video/6903721097208876290?is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6950293076981122565
Leonard, K., Welch, N., & Ali-Joseph, A. (2020). Covid-19 in Indigenous Communities: Five Protective Factors of “Exercising” Sovereignty.
Mooswa, B. [brettstoise] (2020, March 17). I’ll never not love doing these lol. [Video]. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@brettstoise/video/6904345181970074881?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fblogs.ubc.ca%2F&referer_video_id=6940718680787488006&refer=embed&is_copy_url=0&is_from_webapp=v1&sender_device=pc&sender_web_id=6950293076981122565
Rotha, P. (1980). Nanook and the North. Studies in visual communication, 6(2), 33-60.
Siebert, M. (2006). Atanarjuat and the ideological work of contemporary indigenous filmmaking. Public Culture, 18(3), 1.
Wilson, P. (2015). Indigenous Documentary Media. Contemporary Documentary, 87.
Zimmermann, P. R., & Auyash, S. Z. (2015). Nanook of the North. In Essay) Library of Congress. Available online at www.loc.gov/programs/static/national-film-preservation-board/documents/nanook2. pdf.