Reading Annotation #3

Duarte’s Chapters 6 & 7

“This research has shown me that tribal command of broadband infrastructures and services undergirds the greater goal of helping Native peoples connect, communicate, and share information and knowledge critical to their survival after the century of disconnection enforced by early US industrialization and technological advance.” (page 137)

In today’s society it is not unknown that having access to the internet better connects you with others around the world. As of today, we are still in the midst of a global pandemic, where getting together with others in person isn’t always an option, so having reliable access to services that allow you to use the internet is how we are able to stay connected. However, this is not the case for a lot of indegenious tribes around the U.S. Even though the problem is more present to see today, they have had the issue with gaining access to broadband infrastructures and services since they were first available. One of my best friends works in putting up and maintaining telecommunications for Track Utilities in Spokane, WA; when I asked him if they do a lot/any work in tribal reservations (he works all in WA, OR, MT, and ID) in the last two years he has worked there, he stated that he had only done work once on tribal land and said that the reason they don’t really do work on reservations is because there is not a lot of profit for contractors that hire out from his company. If reservations had the same connection the rest of the U.S did, they could connect and share information about their culture so the things we learn about various tribes are first-hand, especially after being so disconnected by early U.S industrialization and the idea of “Manifest Destiny”. The article “Tribal leaders call on Congress to invest in tribal broadband infrastructure” has a lot of interesting key facts, more up to date than some facts in the reading Network Sovereignty relating how COVID-19 has affected indigenous peoples’ connection through broadband services on tribal land.