Technology Rewriting: Testimonio as a Methodology to Learn from People’s Stories

This article discusses testimonio as a narrative methodology to examine the dialectical tensions between people and digital tools, with a focus on people’s agency and capacity to “rewrite” or reshape the interests with which tools are originally designed and created. It also presents testimonio as a potential methodology to learn from the collective experiences of Indigenous Peoples through processes tied to language revitalization, collective memory, reconnection to Land and, ultimately, self-determination. The author reflects on the ethical commitments and limitations of non-Indigenous researchers collaborating with narrative methodologies and Indigenous Peoples, and the potential scope that testimonio offers to step away from common, technologically deterministic approaches that focus on the tools rather than people’s experiences and stories. The second part of the article includes two examples of testimonios: one by a Cree, Dene and Métis communicator, videogame designer and artist using digital technologies as tools for language revitalization, and another one by an Ayuujk communicator and community radio broadcaster who reflects on the power of radio for language revitalization, community organizing and the movements towards women’s rights.