'So It Is Written': The Subversion of Indigenous Culture through Documentation
Many Indigenous communities have suffered, and continue to suffer, dire consequences from the dominant trend of ascribing primary value to the written word, considering what is not recorded as surplus data. These consequences can result either from what is selected for inclusion in the Written Record, or from what is omitted; in either case, the problem stems from a dominant culture that values the written word over knowledge transmitted through the oral tradition or held by living, unpublished knowledge keepers.