Abstract:
Data are the single-most significant asset shaping our present and future realities. Data are driving national and global economies, and are presented as the evidential basis for the development of policies; they are framing political landscapes and radically transforming what it means to live in a democratic state. As we navigate our way through a rapidly developing digital age, one of the biggest issues we are facing as Māori is that of data sovereignty. In this thesis, I draw upon my unique perspective as a mokopuna of Pare Hauraki to consider how data sovereignty is not an abstract theory nor is it limited to a political aspiration, but it is a living, breathing reality.
This first half of this thesis considers how data has become the most powerful global resource of the digital age. Critical to this discussion is an interrogation of the factors that have contributed to data’s accumulated status of neutrality and truth. Tacit assumptions regarding the capacity for data to contribute to fair and equitable outcomes for ‘all’ is contested in light of the experiences of Indigenous peoples. Histories of exploitative research and colonial counting highlight how the benefits of research and data have very rarely accrued for us as Indigenous peoples. Indigenous data sovereignty then is necessary for ensuring these histories do not continue to repeat themselves.
The second half of this thesis includes three distinct case studies that interrogate pressing issues in Indigenous data sovereignty. Namely, privacy, trust and access. Personal narratives and storywork is weaved through each case study to illustrate how issues relevant to privacy, trust and access are felt at the individual level and how this sits within a broader collective experience. Written in the context of a global pandemic, this thesis offers an important insight into the ways that we as Indigenous peoples continue to experience the harms (re)produced by structurally violent, oppresive, colonial structures. However, we are not defined by these systems and we have shown that when we return to our ways of knowing and being, not only do we survive, we thrive. To this end, Māori concepts of tapu, tiakitanga and whakapapa are considered as key features of a sovereign data space for Māori.