Rematriation Project

Increasing data capacities in frontline communities

I am the primary investigator for the Rematriation Project, a co-produced, environmental justice-focused data and professionalization project with Aqqaluk Trust—a tribal organization in NW Alaska—aimed at increasing capacities in frontline communities for digitizing local collections, creating an online archive that is designed for Iñupiaq users, and increasing digital and data literacies. This project—made up of multi-disciplinary partners from Virginia Tech, Aqqaluk Trust, CLIR, and various conservation and philanthropic foundations—is creating protocols for equitable research partnerships between academic, philanthropic, and tribal organizations to serve frontline communities.

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The first iteration of this project is the digitization of the professional papers of Caleb Lumen Pungowiyi, a Siberian Yupik leader and climate change advocate. The Caleb Scholars Program (on whose board of directors I serve) will act as the custodian of Caleb's professional papers once the digitization is complete.