In the post-colonial era, tribal peoples are particularly vulnerable to new technologies and industrialization, which threaten their cultures, homelands and ways of living. However, there is a surprising exception to this trend in the form of social media.
This book explores how tribal and indigenous peoples across the globe are using social media such as Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in fresh and inventive ways unique to their values and lifestyles.
These platforms help tribal peoples to communicate across boundaries and barriers as never before, and are helping to strengthen communal identity and development in the global age.

Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Steven C. Dinero is the executive director of the Carbon County Museum in Rawlins, Wyoming.

Steven C. Dinero
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 184
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2020
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7470-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3680-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

I. Social Media in an Indigenous World 15

II. The Front Room 28

#virtualenvironmentalism: Taking Refuge 32

#virtualprotest: Separate but Equalish 55

#virtualsovereignty: A Tiger’s Tale 76

III. The Back Room 99

#virtualcampsite: All My Relations 105

#virtualshiq: Peace Be Upon You 125

#virtualkingdom: In the Lap of the Hills 144

Conclusion 163

Epilogue 167

Bibliography 169

Index 173

“Virtual Tribe is a testimony to the use of technology as a powerful tool for reclaiming and repositioning indigenous issues, knowledge, and analyses to form indigenous resiliency and resistance…recommended”—Choice