College English Nov 2013

Wampum, Sequoyan, and Story: Decolonizing the Digital Archive

Ellen Cushman

Abstract

Archives have a long and troubled history as imperialist endeavors. Scholars of digital archives can begin to decolonize the archive by asking, how is knowledge imparted, in what media, by whom, and for what ends? Drawing on a six-year-long ethnohistorical study of Cherokee language and writing, I explore these questions and analyze the epistemological work of wampum, Sequoyan, and digital storytelling. I argue that decolonial digital archives have built into them the instrumental, historical, and cultural meanings of whatever media they include. To be understood in and on their terms, these media need to be contextualized within the notions of time, social practices, stories, and languages that lend them meaning.

Journal
College English
Published
2013-11-01
DOI
10.58680/ce201324269
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
decolonial rhetorics
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (16)

  1. Pauszek et al. (2026)
    Research Brief: Community-Engaged Writing
    College Composition and Communication
  2. Manis et al. (2026)
    Emergency Archives: Investigating Rhetorical (Im) Possibility, Action, and the …
    Rhetoric Review
  3. Smith (2025)
    Archival Col-labor-ations: Serendipity and Schadenfreude in Critical Archival R…
    Rhetoric Review
  4. Zhu et al. (2025)
    Thinking in and through Comparative Rhetoric and Decolonial Studies
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  5. Dadugblor (2023)
    Stories and/as Civic Pedagogies: Toward Participatory Knowledge-Making in Cultu…
    College Composition and Communication
Show all 16 →
  1. Bartlett et al. (2022)
    ISU Quarantine Journal Project: Reflective Writing, Public Memory, and Communit…
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  2. Flower (2021)
    Hidden Frames: Writing a Path to Change
    College Composition and Communication
  3. Proszak (2021)
    Products of US Performance: A Material Rhetorical Education at North Bennet Str…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  4. Medina et al. (2020)
    “Publishing Is Mystical”: The Latinx Caucus Bibliography, Top-Tier Journals, an…
    Rhetoric Review
  5. Johnson (2020)
    Theorizing Network Bias and Teaching Mêtic Invention in Online Search
    Computers and Composition
  6. Flower (2020)
    The Consequences of Engaged Education: Building a Public Case
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  7. Girdharry (2020)
    #BostonStrong/BostonStrong?: A Personal Essay on Digital Community Engagement
    Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
  8. Rivard (2019)
    Turning Archives into Data: Archival Rhetorics and Digital Literacy in the Comp…
    College Composition and Communication
  9. Parks et al. (2019)
    Of Rights Without Guarantees: Friction at the Borders of Nations, Digital Space…
    Literacy in Composition Studies
  10. Cushman et al. (2019)
    Decolonizing Projects: Creating Pluriversal Possibilities in Rhetoric
    Rhetoric Review
  11. Smith (2016)
    Negotiating Community Literacy Practice: Public Memory Work and the Boston Mara…
    Computers and Composition

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