Paper short abstract:

This paper will explore the impacts of digital and technical change on the possibilities of collaborative and indigenous anthropology in remote locations, looking at the case study of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre Fieldworker Program.

Paper long abstract:

Since the 1960's technological developments have enabled the rapid growth of participatory and indigenous media and a seen the establishment of a range of indigenous and participatory cultural documentation projects around the globe. One such project is the cultural documentation project of the Vanuatu Cultural Centres (VKS) Fieldworker Network, a significant and sustained project of indigenous anthropology that has contributed to the large and diverse holdings of the Vanuatu National Film and Sound Archive. Looking at recent challenges faced by the VKS Fieldworker Networks cultural documentation project, this paper will consider the ways in which digital technologies have both enabled and constrained possibilities for remote indigenous communities to actively lead and undertake their own cultural documentation work. It will discuss the potential implications of new digital divides emerging from low cost consumer digital technologies reliant on internet connectivity and 'the cloud', on the possibilities of indigenous and collaborative anthropology into the future, including how these digital divides may reverse gains made towards decolonising and collaborative approaches to anthropological research.