Stakeholder Dialogue

 Co-LABorate 2 Stakeholder Workshop:

Preserving and Transferring Indigenous Knowledge in a Digital World

10-12 March 2025

Room: 243

German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Jungfernstieg 21, 20354 Hamburg

Goals and objectives:

The main goal of the workshop is to identify and address the essential challenges and opportunities for global transformation towards sustainability through the preservation and dissemination of indigenous knowledge in a digital age.

To achieve this goal, the workshop employs innovative formats of knowledge transfer and brings together leading scholars and practitioners to answer important questions:

Session 1: State of the Art: Current Challenges and Opportunities for Indigenous Knowledge in the Digital Age

In the digital age, indigenous knowledge faces several challenges and opportunities. Challenges include lack of reliable access to internet and computers, and digital literacy education as well as cultural appropriation and misrepresentation. Opportunities include preservation and revitalization through digitization of traditional knowledge, oral histories, and cultural artifacts as well as community empowerment through digital storytelling and advocacy in social media.

In this panel, we want to set the stage for all discussions. We call on representatives from various indigenous communities to present the current challenges their communities are confronted with and which opportunities they see for preservation through the integration of indigenous knowledge with modern (digital) technology.

• What are the current challenges that confront indigenous communities and how does digitalization exacerbate the negative effects of their marginalization?

• What are the knowledge tools used to record, disseminate and preserve stories, myths, traditions and practices that embody indigenous people’s wisdom?

• How can digital platforms be designed to facilitate the intergenerational transfer of indigenous wisdom within communities?

Session 2: Indigenous Knowledge as Enabler of Global Sustainability Transformation

Indigenous communities, with their deep-rooted knowledge of sustainable living, are key drivers of global sustainability. Their traditional ecological practices offer vital insights into resource management, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience. As guardians of some of the planet's most biodiverse regions, Indigenous peoples are leading efforts to protect our global commons. By blending indigenous wisdom with modern sustainability practices, they are shaping a more sustainable and equitable future, making them essential partners in addressing global environmental challenges

In this session, we explore how indigenous knowledge can offer new and alternative imaginaries on social institutions - politics, economics, technology, religion, gender, and education - that underpin contemporary societies, which are key to global sustainability transformation. In this regard, we want to ask the following questions:

• Which alternative ways of seeing and designs of social institutions are offered by indigenous knowledge that can help dismantle path dependencies and dominance structures such as toxic hypermasculinity?

• How can indigenous knowledge systems inform and enhance modern technological, entrepreneurial, educational, and scientific practices to promote global sustainability transformation?

Session 3: Strategies for Addressing New and Old (In)Justices to Indigenous People

Indigenous people around the world face a variety of injustices, often stemming from historical colonization, systemic discrimination, and ongoing marginalization. The emergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence may endanger their cultural preservation through language loss, and cultural appropriation. Furthermore, new challenges are emerging in the digital age as some existing guardrails for the preservation of indigenous knowledge are removed. At the same time, digital innovation can offer opportunities to help indigenous people achieve representation, autonomy, economic inclusion and adaptation to climate change.

In this session, we focus on the interface between the public and private sector to identify good practices from various stakeholders to address injustices to indigenous communities. These practices include capacity building, policy and legal reforms, fair business models and community-led initiatives.

• Which new injustices towards the indigenous communities are emerging in the digital age?

• How can digital innovation help address injustices that confront indigenous communities such as the misappropriation and exploitation of indigenous wisdom?

Session 4: Connecting Global and Regional Visions with Local Solutions – Improving the Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Shaping Global Interactions

The connection between global visions of sustainability and local solutions is a crucial aspect of global transformation to address complex challenges such as climate change and social justice. Preserving and transferring indigenous knowledge is important in finding context-specific strategies and actions that meet the unique needs of individual communities.

This session aims to understand how to enhance the potentials of indigenous knowledge in leveraging local knowledge, resources, and expertise to realize global visions of sustainability and human flourishing.

• How can digital innovation help connect global and regional visions with the local solutions offered by indigenous knowledge?

• How can international cooperation support the digital preservation and transfer of indigenous knowledge (and vice-versa)? 

Session 5: Indigeneity models of a sustainable future

Indigenous knowledge is essential to shaping the future we envision. Indigenous thinkers provide transformative models in finance, economy, innovation, education, governance, international relations, and social cohesion that have the potential to revolutionize our world.

This session showcases groundbreaking models of indigeneity, presented by dynamic young thinkers, activists, and practitioners who are driving these visionary ideas forward. The session asks the following question:

• So, how can indigenous knowledge help bring us into the future we envision?

Outcome of the workshop:

By bringing together scholars and stakeholders representing indigenous communities as well as policymakers, the workshop aims to craft strategies to help indigenous people flourish in a digital age. Using a digital platform, we aim to visualize indigenous wisdom through stories, myths, terminologies, rituals and practices that offer alternative outlooks to reimagine social institutions and sustainability transformation.

Participation:

We are currently finalizing the list of speakers. The workshop is mainly a physical event. We have a limited number of seats for external participants. The talks of the speakers will be live streamed. Please contact us if you wish you attend or to see the live streams.

Contact ariel.hernandez(at)giga-hamburg.de