EXPLORING
INDIGENOUS
FUTURISMS
“In knowing the histories of our relations and of this land, we find the knowledge to recreate all that our worlds would’ve been, if not for the interruption of colonization.”
- Erica Violet Lee
Hoop in the Cloud
Wendy Red Star
Indigenous futurism intertwines traditional Indigenous knowledge and culture with futuristic ideas and aesthetics. The widespread movement incorporates music, film, visual arts and popular culture to imagine a world where colonization had not destabilized the existence of Indigenous people.
Grace Dillon —who coined the term Indigenous Futurism as an homage to 'Afrofuturism'— points out that many Indigenous peoples already navigate a post-apocalyptic world, and these narratives provide a method of overcoming that. [Source]
As Lindsay Nixon expresses, "speculative visualities are used to project Indigenous life into the future imaginary, subverting the imaginary of death ascribed to Indigenous bodies within settler colonial discourse." [Source]
Indigenous futurism is a critical perspective in addressing longstanding historical injustices and traumas faced by Indigenous people at the hands of colonial powers. In redefining the discourses on Indigeneity through the arts and media, Indigenous people are reclaiming sovereignty over their visual identities and present + future realities.
An Indian Game
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
"We are the descendants of a future imaginary that has already passed; the outcome of the intentions, resistance, and survivance of our ancestors."
- Lindsay Nixon
In working towards the decolonization of art and the world of media, Indigenous futurism proposes a valuable perspective. In redefining temporal existences of Indigenous people —past, present, and futures alike— Indigenous people have the ability to reclaim dispossessed narratives and contest the malevolent colonial ethos.
To learn more about Indigenous Futurisms, check out these resources:
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Visual Cultures of Indigenous Futurisms by Lindsay Nixon
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Métis in Space (Podcast) by Molly Swain & Chelsea Vowel
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Indigenous Peoples Are Decolonizing Virtual Worlds by Cecilia Keating
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Decolonizing Science Fiction And Imagining Futures: An Indigenous Futurisms Roundtable by Rebecca Roanhorse
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Introduction: Indigenous Futurisms in the Hyperpresent Now by Suzanne Fricke
