Indigenous Data Sovereignty and the Land Grab Universities Project

Historical injustices are not uncommon for Indigenous peoples from the North American region due to the ongoing persistence of settler colonialism. Settler colonialism is the process of settler’s taking over Indigenous land, forcing the erasure of Indigenous peoples. This act of erasure is not only established through territory; it also expands into structures beyond that. The structures that inhibit Indigenous sovereignty include ontological, cosmological and political systems. For example, Indigenous rights to ceremony and dance were banned in the U.S effecting the ontological and cosmological attributes of Indigenous culture. It wasn't until the year of 1978, when the American Indian Religious Freedom Act[1] was passed, that these ceremonies were openly re-established among Indigenous peoples.