Kurt Naquin
Hali Dardar
The Uke’ Contracting System is an Indigenous-led data sovereignty project that represents a practical intervention in addressing power imbalances inherent in traditional research relationships. Developed by the Houma Language Project and Ripple Effect and stewarded by Bvlbancha Public Access, this open-source framework reverses standard consent protocols by ensuring knowledge holders maintain full copyright ownership of their contributions while granting limited, revocable licenses for specific uses. Traditional research models normalize data extraction through consent forms that transfer all ownership to researchers and institutions, often subjecting Indigenous knowledge to FOIA requests and perpetual institutional control. Uke’ disrupts this paradigm through two mechanisms: (1) Work-for-Hire Agreements that establish the interviewee as copyright owner from inception, and (2) Copyright License Agreements that define limited, project-specific, compensated use with clear terms for future applications. Piloted across three initial case studies—Language Keepers interview series (11 open-source interviews), Indigenous Gulf Stream media project (49 licenses), and Collective Memory Work research (6 licenses)—Uke’ demonstrates how Indigenous communities can govern their data while encouraging ethical collaboration. We also explore how the system may help address critical gaps between Institutional Review Board (IRB) compliance and genuine community sovereignty over knowledge. This presentation shares implementation experiences, including integration with Warren County, North Carolina flood research in a historically Black community and ongoing development to refine the contracts legal frameworks and application. We examine Uke’ as one tool in the broader Indigenous data sovereignty toolkit to provide actionable steps researchers can take to shift from extractive to relational practice.