The Social Text and Networked Knowledge: New Modes of Scholarly Book Publishing in Indigenous Studies

Initiatives in the digital humanities; advances in library, archiving, and information sciences; and innovative First Nations community-based language and cultural heritage projects demand that the scholarly communications infrastructure evolve to improve access to and mobilize knowledge in its written, oral, and visual forms. The field of Indigenous studies raises interesting challenges and opportunities for multimodal publishing and for new kinds of partnerships to support research and publication. This paper discusses the collaborative efforts of the University of British Columbia Press, University of British Columbia Library, and University of Washington Press to develop a dynamic new resource for Indigenous research, education, and cultural programs, which places the scholarly book at its centre. It considers the changing nature of scholarly publishing, the expanding definition of the scholarly record, and the specific context of cultural heritage projects.