‘Digital Dreaming’: Connecting to Country and Reclaiming Land through Digital Platforms

• Main Author: Minestrelli, Chiara
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: Media studies; Australasian Society and Culture studies; First Nations
• Online Access: https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/19497/; https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/19497/1/Minestrelli_JEASA.pdf; http://www.australianstudies.eu/?p=1810

The notions of ‘Country’ and ‘Land’ lie deep at the heart of Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, and this is true for both Indigenous peoples who live in remote communities and those who reside in Australia’s urban centres. Country and Land are more than a geographical location; they are highly complex notions that shape understandings of identity and wellbeing for Australian First Nations. Yet, the age of the ‘Anthropos’ suddenly introduced into the continent by settler colonialism brought about drastic changes and new configurations within the relationship between ‘life’ and ‘nonlife’, ownership and stewardship. Such relations are constantly negotiated and debated as Indigenous communities strive to protect their homes, claim their land back and reconnect to Country using the means at their disposal. Digital technology, in particular, has become a very important tool in the hands of Indigenous communities over the past decade. Many are the projects that use digital technologies and platforms, from applications like #Thismymob (Digital Land Rights Project) to Kurdiji 1.0, the 3D animations of the Wunungu Awara project, and the work of the Karrabing Collective, just to mention a few. Looking at the narratives portrayed in the filmography of the Karrabing Collective from a multimodal perspective, and with a primary focus on the film Wutharr, this article explores approaches to Country and Land as mediated via the digital. Through these examples and case study, I thus argue that the digital provides a productive terrain to challenge current configurations of Land management, while proposing new forms of sovereignty, from the digital to the real. In order to better support these claims, I have embraced a theoretical framework that draws from Indigenous knowledges and methods, posthuman critical theory and geontologies.