Producing Indigenous Media: Protocols, Circulation, and the Politics of Accountability

The following dialogue—with Indigenous filmmakers and anthropologists Dr. Angelo Baca (Diné/Hopi), Teresa Martinez-Chavez (Zapotec), Dr. Teresa Montoya (Diné), and Dr. Ikaika Ramones (Kanaka ʻŌiwi)—charts the ethical protocols and decisions undertaken in the production of documentary films with and within Indigenous communities. These films underscore the significance of prioritizing culturally specific protocols about knowledge production and its attendant impacts on media circulation. Each filmmaker considers the broader colonial legacies that have shaped various representations of Indigenous life and what refusing certain media conventions, such as digital distribution, might mean for theorizing Indigenous media practices in broader anticolonial frameworks.