Damien Lee’s project explores adoption and citizenship as central themes in the historical and contemporary relationships between First Nations peoples and the Canadian state. Situated within broader efforts to assert Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination, and the recognition of Indigenous legal and political traditions, the project investigates how legal and social mechanisms—particularly those related to adoption—reflect and shape these dynamics.
To extend this research to a wider public, the Digital Humanities Institute (DHI) is developing an interactive digital platform that visualizes the complex intersections of Indigenous and state law. The platform will present a map-based and time-enabled storytelling interface, bringing together multiple data layers that collectively narrate the story of adoption in Canada.
The digital environment will integrate three main components:
- First Nations Membership Codes – a georeferenced map showing how different nations (220 in total) articulate adoption within their legal frameworks, linked to full-text documents and searchable metadata.
- Chronology of Statutes and Regulations – a timeline of Canadian legal instruments (1850–1985) illustrating how state law has sought to delimit Indigenous sovereignty, with links to primary sources and legal commentary.
- Media and Legal Proceedings – curated news coverage, case reports, and multimedia resources documenting public and judicial narratives surrounding adoption and Indigenous identity.
A comprehensive database and data-entry system will underpin the platform, structuring materials into interrelated datasets on Nations, Events, Membership Codes, Statutes, and News Media. Users will be able to browse, search, and filter content through intuitive keyword and facet navigation, and interact dynamically with the map and timeline.
Project Team
- Dr. Damien Lee (Leverhulme Visiting Professor, University of Birmingham)
- Matthew Groves (Senior Research Software Engineer, Digital Humanities Institute)