DHA2021: Ka Renarena Te Taukaea | Creating Communities, the biennial conference of the Australasian Association of Digital Humanities (aaDH), begins on Monday 22nd, hosted by the University of Canterbury.
Professor Paul Millar, President of aaDH, says that the conference theme is a response to the extreme events our region has been experiencing—including terrorist hate crimes, pandemic disruption and ongoing environmental catastrophe.
“We’ve asked contributors to think carefully and courageously about the role digital humanities might play in creating communities capable of leading and contributing meaningfully to global conversations about a safe, equitable and sustainable future” says Millar.
“We want to focus on how digital technologies can not only create connections but support diversity, creativity, community building, wellbeing and resilience in a world of rapidly evolving challenges.”
Millar says that the members of the opening keynote panel on Indigenous Data Sovereignty, exemplify the courage and commitment it takes to achieve a more equitable future.
“In the digital age, indigenous peoples have too often been the unwilling targets of data-driven policy interventions, with little say over the collection, use and application of data about them, their lands and cultures.
In response, Professor Tahu Kukutai, Distinguished Professor Maggie Walter and Associate Professor Donna Cormack have ceaselessly advocated for the rights of indigenous peoples to control data about them, participate effectively in data gathering and research, and have access to resulting data for use by them in policy articulation, in planning and in monitoring and evaluation efforts.”
In conversation with Sacha McMeeking, Head of the University of Canterbury’s Aotahi—School of Māori and Indigenous Studies, the panel will reflect on their journeys as academic advocates and activists working to ensure Indigenous Data Sovereignty is recognized and protected, and share their visions of what full and fair implementation of an Indigenous Data Sovereignty agenda might mean for indigenous communities in the 21stcentury.
DHA2021 is a virtual conference, running from 22nd-25th November. You can view the programme here. Attendance is free, simply register via Eventbrite.