
By Their Work
Indigenous Women's Digital Media in North America
University of Minnesota Press
Published on 11. November 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
344 pages
978-1-5179-1906-1 (ISBN)
Description
A first-of-its-kind collection to transform our understanding of digital media from Indigenous women creators
Indigenous women form a vital force in digital media production now and have over the past several decades-in fact, nearly three quarters of the projects at the 2017 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival were created by women. By Their Work highlights the prismatic nature of Indigenous women's digital media, connecting the digital arts with their creative labor and adaptive activism.
Joanna Hearne and Karrmen Crey bring together a collection of essays and interviews to highlight the voices of powerful and important media makers, from Indigenous video game creators to animators to social media influencers and from theorists of early Indigenous digital media to current practitioners, including trans and nonbinary creators often left out of public narratives about the digital. Creating a space to hear critical voices on Indigenous media history, theory, and production, the contributors share stories, genealogies, and practices behind Indigenous women's power and presence in the digital world.
Focusing on the history of digital media as a whole, this collection presents a compelling case for Indigenous women's crucial roles across the history of digital forms and platforms. In doing so, By Their Work transforms digital Indigenous studies in the twenty-first century.
Contributors: Nanobah Becker; Reilley Bishop-Stall, McGill U; Meagan Byrne; Tawny Trottier Cale; Dana Claxton; Crystal Harrison Collin; Elizabeth Day; Kristin L. Dowell, Florida State U; Miranda Due; Heid E. Erdrich; Marcella Ernest, U of New Mexico; Marisa Erven; Skawennati Tricia Fragnito; David Gaertner, U of British Columbia; Carol Geddes; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Patuk N. Glenn; Lisa Jackson; Jacqueline Land, William Jewell College; Jason Edward Lewis, Concordia University, Montreal; Joshua D. Miner, U of Kansas; Salma Monani, Gettysburg College; Jas M. Morgan, Simon Fraser U; Archer Pechawis, York U; Mikhel Proulx, Queen's U Canada; Jolene Rickard, Cornell U; Channette Romero, U of Georgia; Wendi Sierra, Texas Christian U.
Indigenous women form a vital force in digital media production now and have over the past several decades-in fact, nearly three quarters of the projects at the 2017 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival were created by women. By Their Work highlights the prismatic nature of Indigenous women's digital media, connecting the digital arts with their creative labor and adaptive activism.
Joanna Hearne and Karrmen Crey bring together a collection of essays and interviews to highlight the voices of powerful and important media makers, from Indigenous video game creators to animators to social media influencers and from theorists of early Indigenous digital media to current practitioners, including trans and nonbinary creators often left out of public narratives about the digital. Creating a space to hear critical voices on Indigenous media history, theory, and production, the contributors share stories, genealogies, and practices behind Indigenous women's power and presence in the digital world.
Focusing on the history of digital media as a whole, this collection presents a compelling case for Indigenous women's crucial roles across the history of digital forms and platforms. In doing so, By Their Work transforms digital Indigenous studies in the twenty-first century.
Contributors: Nanobah Becker; Reilley Bishop-Stall, McGill U; Meagan Byrne; Tawny Trottier Cale; Dana Claxton; Crystal Harrison Collin; Elizabeth Day; Kristin L. Dowell, Florida State U; Miranda Due; Heid E. Erdrich; Marcella Ernest, U of New Mexico; Marisa Erven; Skawennati Tricia Fragnito; David Gaertner, U of British Columbia; Carol Geddes; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Patuk N. Glenn; Lisa Jackson; Jacqueline Land, William Jewell College; Jason Edward Lewis, Concordia University, Montreal; Joshua D. Miner, U of Kansas; Salma Monani, Gettysburg College; Jas M. Morgan, Simon Fraser U; Archer Pechawis, York U; Mikhel Proulx, Queen's U Canada; Jolene Rickard, Cornell U; Channette Romero, U of Georgia; Wendi Sierra, Texas Christian U.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Minnesota
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
25 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 177 mm
Width: 254 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
620 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5179-1906-1 (9781517919061)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Joanna Hearne is Jeanne Hoffman Smith Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Oklahoma. She is author of Native Recognition: Indigenous Cinema and the Western and Smoke Signals: Native Cinema Rising and coeditor of ReFocus: The Films of Wallace Fox.
Karrmen Crey (Sto:lo and a member of the Cheam Band) is associate professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and author of Producing Sovereignty: The Rise of Indigenous Media in Canada (Minnesota, 2024).
Karrmen Crey (Sto:lo and a member of the Cheam Band) is associate professor in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University and author of Producing Sovereignty: The Rise of Indigenous Media in Canada (Minnesota, 2024).