IndigiNews is an Indigenous-led online news platform that focuses on reporting news and stories from Indigenous communities. Its “News” section covers a wide range of topics, including cultural events, environmental protection, legal issues, and social justice. I read one of the articles written by Crystal Greene titled ‘Bring her home’: How Buffalo Woman was identified as Ashlee Shingoose. This article details the journey of identifying an initially unnamed victim, referred to as Buffalo Woman, as Ashlee Shingoose, an Anishininew mother who had been missing since 2022.
The narrative of this article centers on survivor dignity, family voice, and collective mourning. As Hausknecht et al. (2021) emphasize, “storytelling… is a deeply valued aspect of teaching and learning history, language, place, culture, and Indigenous Knowledge” (285). Furthermore, Sarah Mines’ discussion on Storytelling as a Method of Indigenization emphasizes the role of storytelling in decolonization efforts, advocating for the recentering of Indigenous narratives in both traditional and digital mediums. Similarly, this article respectfully describes family statements, context about MMIWG (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls), and systemic neglect, reflecting a storytelling tradition grounded in relationality, witness, and truth-telling. “The tweets had stories of oppression, exclusion, invisibility, and lack of a digital identity for a diverse range of women and other non-binary gender” (Gupta & Trehan, 2021). Ashlee’s story mirrors this digital erasure. Initially referred to only as “Buffalo Woman,” she was unnamed in both physical and digital realms—until community action and investigative journalism reclaimed her identity. This aligns with what the #VisibleWikiWomen campaign aims to do: make invisible women visible, particularly Indigenous women whose stories are disproportionately left out of public discourse.
The digital platform of IndigiNews serves as both a repository and a transformative space for Indigenous narratives. By documenting Ashlee’s story online, the article ensures accessibility and permanence, allowing a broader audience to engage with the narrative. This preservation is crucial in the context of ongoing efforts to address the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit individuals (MMIWG2S+). Moreover, the digital medium allows for the integration of multimedia elements—such as photographs of Ashlee’s parents and community gatherings—that enrich the storytelling experience. However, limitations exist. The transition from oral to digital can result in the loss of certain cultural nuances inherent in oral storytelling, such as tone, rhythm, and immediate communal interaction. Additionally, digital platforms are not universally accessible; disparities in digital literacy and internet access can exclude some people from participating fully in these storytelling practices.
References:
Greene, C. (2025, April 2). ‘Bring her home’: How Buffalo Woman was identified as Ashlee Shingoose. IndigiNews. https://indiginews.com/news/how-buffalo-woman-was-identified-as-ashlee-shingoose
Gupta, S., & Trehan, K. (2021). Twitter reacts to absence of women on Wikipedia: a mixed-methods analysis of #VisibleWikiWomen campaign. Media Asia, 49(2), 130–154. https://doi-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1080/01296612.2021.2003100
Hausknecht, S., Freeman, S., Martin, J., Nash, C., & Skinner, K. (2021). Sharing Indigenous Knowledge through intergenerational digital storytelling: Design of a workshop engaging Elders and youth. Educational Gerontology, 47(7), 285–296. https://doi-org.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/10.1080/03601277.2021.1927484
Mines, Sarah. “Storytelling as a Method of Indigenization." Abenaki Language and Cultural Preservation, Middlebury College, 2019, https://sites.middlebury.edu/abenaki/storytelling-as-a-method-of-indigenization.
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