Indigenous Media Portal

FAIN: PW-290445-23

University of Oklahoma, Norman (Norman, OK 73019-3003)
Amanda Gail Minks (Project Director: July 2022 to present)
Michael Szajewski (Co Project Director: January 2024 to present)

The planning stage of creating a digital public platform of Indigenous Knowledge through oral histories, music, and audiovisual materials in partnership with Native American community members. The Indigenous Media Portal would draw content from selected archival photographs, broadcasts, and other media housed at the University of Oklahoma, along with new audiovisual materials created with Tribal members.

Based at the University of Oklahoma, the Indigenous Media Portal will be an interactive website that provides access to Indigenous media in collaboration with Tribal heritage communities. We will incorporate historic photographs, radio, and other audio media starting with the OU Western History Collections, which contain invaluable oral histories and traditional singing from nearly forty Tribes across the state. We will also incorporate new videos that contextualize the archival collections through the voices of Indigenous knowledge holders. Working together with Tribal communities, we will choose materials appropriate for sharing in a publicly accessible platform and present them in ways that support community interests and broader public understanding. The Indigenous Media Portal will bring Oklahoma Indigenous histories and languages into a digital public sphere which prioritizes the self-representation of Tribal communities through their own voices, music, and audiovisual media.