Centering Indigenous Standpoints through Mediated Communication

Centering Indigenous Standpoints through Mediated Communication explores how different forms of Indigenous media, including social media, are significant advocatory and educational methods of resistance against repeated attempts at genocide, erasure, misrepresentation, vilification, forced assimilation, and stereotyping perpetuated by colonial systems. Ben R. LaPoe II and Victoria L. LaPoe argue that, unlike mainstream media operating under settler principles, Indigenous media privileges Indigenous life experiences, emphasizes Indigenous contexts, honors Indigenous social customs, amplifies Indigenous voices, and incorporates Indigenous worldviews. The book introduces readers to these intersections of Indigenous knowledge and explores the ways in which narrative advocacy empowers and benefits those who communicate their own voices and experiences. Through a multi-method approach and analyses of Indigenous social media posts through the framework of Indigenous Standpoint Theory (IST), the authors identify Indigenous advocacy renovation efforts on mainstream social media platforms and demonstrate how different platforms can impact communities and act as a form of source sovereignty. Ultimately, the results of these analyses position IST as a key approach to supporting the decolonization of knowledge and advocacy in media spaces.