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Local Contexts

@localcontexts

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Grounding Indigenous rights | Traditional Knowledge and Biocultural Labels & Notices | Supporting Indigenous knowledge & data sovereignty

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“Kawsak Sacha is the Sarayaku’s proposal for life. It is born out of the philosophy of our elders and ancestors, where nature is a subject of rights” 🪲 @eribertogualinga

Learn more about Kawsak Sacha in “Allpa Ukundi, Ñukanchi Pura: Underground, Around, & Among Us”, a new documentary telling the story of a collaborative project between the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon and an international community of lawyers, scientists, artists, and advocates 🍃

🎥 You can watch the documentary on our website, mothlife.org (link in bio), and on the website of the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku, sarayaku.org by @localcontexts

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4 months ago

📣 Local Contexts & Creative Commons Guidance for Indigenous Belongings

“Guidance for Indigenous Collections and Indigenous Data: Recommendations from Creative Commons and Local Contexts” is a new resource for cultural institution staff and cultural heritage practitioners to protect Indigenous rights within belongings and data.

The guide was authored by Vanessa Smith, JD/MBA Candidate at UCLA; and Local Contexts’ Executive Director Hop Hopkins; Founder, Strategic Advisor, and Vice Chair Jane Anderson; Founding Councilor and Strategic Advisor Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea); and Director of Programs Corrie Roe.

This work was supported by @creativecommons, with special thanks to Director of Policy and Open Culture Brigitte Vézina (Review and Revision) and Director of Open Culture Storytelling Dee Harris (Layout and Design).

An approachable, practical resource, case studies within the guidance exemplify how the Local Contexts Labels and Notices and Creative Commons licenses are complementary and can be used together to provide better protection and nuance to cultural belongings and data.

Check out Creative Commons’ blog post for reflections from the Creative Commons team, a link to the guidance, and the recording of last week’s webinar marking their launch.

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #BeFAIRandCARE White and black beading on red background. “Guidance for Indigenous Collections and Indigenous Data. Creative Commons. Local Contexts. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21071544. Still from Awasəwehlαwə́lətinα wikəwαmok | They Returned Home (2023). This material carries Penobscot Nation TK Attribution, TK Outreach, and TK Non-Commercial Labels.” by @localcontexts

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a month ago

💥 Comic about Local Contexts

“Local Contexts: Restorying Sovereignty with Plant Relatives” is a gorgeous new comic that illustrates the collaboration between Shinnecock Nation @shinnecock_nation, Local Contexts @localcontexts, and New York Botanical Garden @nybg around reconnection and sovereignty with plant relatives.

The project leaders are:
💥 Jane Anderson, Local Contexts & NYU
💥 Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea), Local Contexts & University of Waikato
💥 Sunshine Gumbs (Shinnecock Nation), Shinnecock Nation
💥 Alex C. McAlvay, New York Botanical Garden
💥 Kelsey Leonard (Shinnecock Nation), University of Waterloo

This short-form comic by Petroglyph Studios comes out of the Center for Braiding Indigenous Knowledges and Science, funded through National Science Foundation’s Science and Technology Centers: Integrative Partnerships program.

Link to the full comic in our bio!

#Indigenous #IndigenousRights #LandBack #KnowledgeBack #Comic Comic panel showing four illustrated people looking at a plant specimen. An insert map shows Shinnecock Homelands, Long Island. Two Label icons, TK Attribution and BC Provenance. Panel text: “The collaboration is advancing data sovereignty protocols and applying Local Contexts Labels, which recognise community provenance and create opportunities for connection and inclusion.” Panel from: Jane Anderson, Sunshine Gumbs, Maui Hudson, Alex C McAlvay, Kelsey Leonard, Local Contexts Inc., Shinnecock Nation, New York Botanical Garden, & Petroglyph Comics. (2025). “Local Contexts: Restorying Sovereignty with Plant Relatives.” Zenodo, May 2025. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15499094. by @localcontexts

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a year ago

🌐 OPEN @ UNGA 81

Featuring leading voices from across the open ecosystem — including Local Contexts Founder Jane Anderson — “OPEN @ UNGA 81: A Conversation on Collaboration” will be held on September 21 for conversations on open source, digital sovereignty, and the open stack.

Register to attend on @creativecommons website (link in bio).

#UNGA81 #UNGA #DigitalSovereignty #IndigenousRights Alt text: Event poster. “Open at UNGA 81: A Conversation on Collaboration. September 21, 2026, 10 am-3 pm EDT, NYU Engelberg Center. Leading civil society and digital rights organizations examine balancing aspirations for digital sovereignty with open collaboration.” Logos for lead organizer, co-organizers, and event sponsor on yellow-to-pink gradient. by @localcontexts

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a month ago

📍 IDSov Event at #ClimateWeekNYC

Building on last year’s inaugural Living Data, Living Lands, this year’s Climate Week convening will center the question that the Global Indigenous Movement has been addressing for decades: How can Indigenous communities control the AI infrastructure itself?

This gathering engages AI, which, left unchecked, could extend extractive logics that absorbs material without attribution, provenance, or consent.

Panelists will discuss and celebrate infrastructure builders around the world who are reimagining systems as a relational, living practice tied to land, kin, and responsibility.

Speakers include: Jane Anderson, Eve Tuck (Unangax̂), Suzanne Greenlaw (Maliseet), Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz, Erin Robinson, Neil Davies, Maheata White Davies (Raiatea), Mililani Ganivet (Tahiti).

This event is co-sponsored by the NYU Engelberg Center on Innovation Law and Policy, NYU Center CIRCL, Indigenous Data Exchange, NYU More-Than-Human Life (MOTH) Program, Local Contexts, and Indigenous Data Law Lab at NYU.

Register to attend on Eventbrite (🔗 in bio).

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #ClimateWeek Event poster. “Living Data, Living Land. More-Than-Human Rights, AI, and Indigenous Data Sovereignty. Tuesday, September 22, 6:30-8:30 pm. Vanderbilt Hall, Law School, NYU. Speakers: Jane Anderson, Eve Tuck (Unangax̂), Suzanne Greenlaw (Maliseet), Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz, Erin Robinson, Neil Davies, Maheata White Davies (Raiatea), Mililani Ganivet (Tahiti).” by @localcontexts

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2 months ago

Local Contexts is excited to share that we will be a part of @creativecommons webinar, “Responsibilities, Ethics, and Access: A Conversation with the Authors of Guidance for Indigenous Collections and Indigenous Data” next week on September 1 UTC.

For more information and to register, see Creative Commons’ event page (🔗in bio!).

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #Webinar Event poster. “Local Contexts, Creative Commons. Responsibilities, Ethics, and Access: A Conversation with the Authors of Guidance for Indigenous Collections and Indigenous Data. 1 September 2026, 15:00-16:00. During this webinar, we’ll discuss how cultural institutions can apply practical, community-centered approaches to Indigenous collections while balancing openness with respect for Indigenous protocols, consent, and control.” by @localcontexts

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2 months ago

📣 The Local Contexts team will be away from our desks August 17-21, taking a mid-year break.

If you have any questions, please contact us through our website, and we will get back to you when we return to our desks on August 24.

#LocalContextsTeam “Away from our desks, August 17-21.” Text inside of circle on decorative background, a green-tinted forest. by @localcontexts

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2 months ago

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3 months ago

👀 Watch & Read: State of the World’s Plant & Fungi Symposium

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew recently hosted the 2026 State of the World's Plants and Fungi Symposium. The event brought together experts to focus on the “digitisation of herbarium and fungarium collections, including its applications and implications.”

Local Contexts Strategic Advisor Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea) presented “Acknowledging local contexts: Recognising Indigenous knowledge and provenance as part of the biocultural value of collections” in Session 4, “Tapping into the biocultural wealth of collections.” The session ended with a panel with the presenters.

Watch the presentation recordings and read the symposium report on Kew’s website, linked in our blog.

📷: @kewgardens

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #BeFAIRandCARE #SotWPF Event poster. “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi Symposium. Session. 1 July 2026. Recordings and report now available.” Decorative image of a person barcoding a pressed plant specimen. by @localcontexts

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3 months ago

🌲 Local Contexts at ESA 2026

The Local Contexts team will present at the @ecologicalsociety of America (ESA) 2026 Annual Meeting, held in-person in Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Outreach Manager Emily Santhanam (Chickasaw) and Dr. Andrew Rominger, researcher at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and Co-Chair of the Local Contexts Hawai’i Institution/Researcher Network, will present a workshop: “Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Ecology: Leveraging Local Contexts Tools in Research for Recognition, Bridge-Building, and Recompense.”

Will you be at ESA? DM or email us to connect!

For information, see our bio 🔗 to our Events page.

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #BeFAIRandCARE #ESA2026 Event poster. “ESA 2026 Annual Meeting. Salt Lake City UT. July 26-31. Workshop. Supporting Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Ecology: Leveraging Local Contexts Tools in Research for Recognition, Bridge-Building, and Recompense. 27 July 2026.” by @localcontexts

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3 months ago

🌱 Plant & Fungi Symposium

Local Contexts Strategic Advisor Maui Hudson (Whakatōhea) will present next week as part of the State of the World's Plants and Fungi Symposium, online and in-person at @kewgardens in London, UK.

On 1 July UTC, Maui will present “Acknowledging local contexts: Recognising Indigenous knowledge and provenance as part of the biocultural value of collections” in Session 4, “Tapping into the biocultural wealth of collections.”

The programme is based around themed sessions in which invited experts will explore critical topics through presentations and Q&A panel discussions.

While in-person registration is closed, you can still join online. See our event page for more details!

📷: @kewgardens

#Indigenous #IndigenousKnowledge #IndigenousRights #BeFAIRandCARE Event poster. “State of the World’s Plants and Fungi Symposium. Session. 1 July 2026.” Decorative image of a person barcoding a pressed plant specimen. by @localcontexts

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4 months ago