Introducing our social media coordinator, Dion Smith-Dokkie

Hello everyone! My name is Dion Smith-Dokkie and I recently joined Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace (AbTeC) as a research assistant and social media coordinator. Over the next few months I’ll be introducing the members AbTeC and the Initiative for Indigenous Futures (IIF) to you, learning about Indigeneity online and in virtual reality, and bringing you news about our work here!

I’m a member of West Moberly First Nations, a Treaty 8 nation located in northeastern British Columbia. My mother is Dane-zaa, Cree, Saulteaux, English, Scottish and Irish; my father is a white settler whose ancestors come from the British Isles. I’ve worked for various organizations as a researcher, administrator, and intern and I hold a degree in Women’s Studies from the University of Victoria. I’m currently pursuing a BFA in Studio Arts (soon to be Painting and Drawing) at Concordia University in Montreal!

I had heard of IIF and AbTeC a few years ago when I was doing some skimming on Indigenous Futurisms. My own research has focused on the creative productions of Indigenous women and 2-Spirits, using things like Indigenous literary studies and poetry, cyborg theory, and queer theory to attempt to give context to the social, political, and artistic milieux of these artists and their work.

My interests in terms of the work of IIF and AbTeC range from Indigenous presence online and in virtual platforms, gender, race and self-representation through avatars and other media, using technology to alter or extend embodiment and perception, and the material conditions of Indigenous peoples that have contributed to the development of things like the Internet, social media, and smartphones.

I’m excited to see how my time at AbTeC informs my presently new artistic practice! I am interested in exploring portraiture and embodiment, cyborg theory and Indigeneity, the relationship between the land and virtual reality, affect, cartography, love and sexuality.