Abstract:

Indigenous creators are using emerging technology such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) as a form of visual sovereignty to define Indigeneity. Mainstream media offers Indigenous creators the opportunity to develop compelling bicultural narratives for their people and distribute them to a large audience that speaks to agency, resistance, activism, and clarifies misrepresentations. Essential elements to consider when designing an Indigenous digital narrative are storytelling, narrative frameworks, emotional engagement, cognition, and biculturalism. This review intends to define Indigenous storytelling in relation to digital narratives and highlight recent technology innovations Indigenous populations have developed to invigorate biocultural diversity. The University of North Texas online library and Google Scholar were the primary databases used to search for full-text availability online peer-reviewed publications and other academic resources. An initial search was conducted using broad keywords, and then article references were further evaluated to determine keyword and phrase searches. The first inclusion requirement is that the articles reference a reality technology with real-world representational fidelity to influence deeper reflection and encourage dialogue. The second requirement is to reference ethically and culturally distinct Indigenous populations who are practitioners of unique customs or experienced colonialism. The third and final requirement is discussing a theoretical framework or empirical evidence relating to digital storytelling for Indigenous people in articles primarily published after 2016. From the selection criteria, twenty-one articles were chosen based on relevance to the topic and focused on the following three areas: defining Indigenous storytelling, forms of digital narratives, and current Indigenous projects. Findings indicated that Indigenous storytelling has a variety of perspectives grounded in Indigenousness and epistemology's interplay with positionality, spirituality, and biophysical emotional connection. Indigenous storytelling conceptualizes holistic cultural experiences and decolonizing narrative through bicultural dialogue. Reality technologies offer a sovereignty medium for authentic experiential learning through perceptual interactivity and fluid interconnectivity to the past, present, and future. Future research should be conducted longitudinally rather than short preservation projects as it would offer an observational understanding of whether visually mediated confrontation is beneficial for denouncing cultural assumptions. Based on the literature reviewed, reality storytelling frameworks are Eurocentric in nature and do not fully describe an Indigenous experience. To overcome those challenges, it was emphasized to develop with co-collaboration to promote agency and resilience. For transformative learning, future research should include details of mastery learning and outcome measurements that fit the targeted audience's needs. The literature briefly discussed the pedagogical implications but primarily focused on user experience and motivation in interaction within modality and fidelity versus learning achievements. In conclusion, the findings contained in this review contribute to the larger discussion of cultural equity in epistemology and the potential empowerment possible with the use of modern reality technologies for Indigenous populations.

Keywords:

Storytelling, Digital Narratives, Virtual Reality, User-Experience, Indigenous People, Cultural Knowledge.