Eliana Ritts

ELIANA RITTS, then a graduate student at New York University, New York, New York, received funding in April 2019 to aid research on ‘Broadcasting Indigenous Futures: Contested Sovereignties at Taiwan Indigenous Television,’ supervised by Dr. Faye Ginsburg. Founded in 2005, Taiwan Indigenous Television (TITV) is the first Indigenous television station in Asia, a ground-breaking national media network created by, for, and about Taiwan’s diverse Indigenous groups. TITV plays a central role in representing Indigenous interests and asserting Indigenous media sovereignty: Indigenous self-representation and control over media production. The station also represents both Taiwan and its Indigenous peoples ‘ who are not well-known on the world stage ‘ for local, national, and international audiences. This doctoral project analyzes the relationships between visual and political sovereignty at TITV, and the ways that representations of Indigeneity circulate on local, national, and international levels. The research centers around the strategies that media makers at TITV use to Indigenize production, by foregrounding Indigenous protocols, relationships, and value systems. The grantee demonstrates how, through programming and everyday production practices, Indigenous creators in Taiwan use media to make claims for their historic rights, contemporary presence, and sovereign futures.