Indigenous film as a tool for developing and maintaining indigenous culture and identity : how do indigenous films and indigenous film festivals as non-governmental organisations develop and maintain indigenous culture and identity?

Abstract

This study is concerned with identity politics within international relations and the role of indigenous film in supporting the cultures and identities of indigenous peoples. The focus of the research is in the circumpolar North but the aim is to show that indigenous film subverts the past discourses which defined indigenous peoples by giving them agency and allowing them to tell their own stories themselves. The transnational networking aspect of indigenous film festivals as nongovernmental organisations is also explored as a parallel to the way in which indigenous peoples organisations as nonstate actors in international society, have subverted the normative discourse of international relations that states are the only actors.

The empirical data analysed in this research comes from two indigenous film festivals: Skabmagovat Indigenous Peoples’ film festival in Inari, Finland and imagineNATIVE film festival in Toronto, Canada. Both festivals are international and show indigenous films from all over the world. Qualitative methods were used in this research and the analysis of the research material was based on content and discourse analysis. Through these methods of analysis the role of identity and culture and the key discourses which inform indigenous film and indigenous film festivals as nongovernmental organisations were explored and identified.

The results of the study will confirm that indigenous film and indigenous film festivals perform as a valuable tool to develop and maintain indigenous identity and culture. The theoretical framework, based on performativity and the ontology of international relations, acts as a lens through which to view the empirical information gleaned from the research The research will show that the various discourses surrounding indigenous peoples are subverted within indigenous film and indigenous film festivals thus promoting at a ‘macro’ and a ‘micro’ level the development of an indigenous peoples collective identity which by giving selfrepresentation to indigenous peoples and forging a collective identity among them, inform an indigenous performative discourse that is based on action, culture and identity.