Research Summary: "Lighting The Way For Those Not Here": How Can Technology Researchers Help Resist the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) Crisis?

Indigenous communities on Turtle Island experience disproportionate rates of disappearance and murder, a crisis termed Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR), stemming from historical settler-colonial violence and systemic issues. Technology presents a dual nature in this context: it can contribute to systemic violence and hinder investigations, but also serves as a vital tool for advocacy, healing, and resistance through various digital platforms and crowdsourced initiatives. Current Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research has not adequately explored technology's role in this crisis, indicating a significant gap in academic understanding and potential for technological intervention.

Why it matters

This research highlights a critical social and humanitarian crisis affecting Indigenous populations, where technology plays a complex and often overlooked role. Understanding this dynamic is crucial for developing ethical and effective technological interventions that support vulnerable communities, rather than exacerbating existing systemic issues. Addressing this gap can inform broader strategies for leveraging technology for social justice and community empowerment.

Key insights

• Indigenous populations face disproportionately high rates of disappearance and murder, identified as the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis.
• This crisis is rooted in settler-colonial violence and systemic erasure.
• Technology both perpetuates systemic violence and impedes investigations related to MMIR cases.
• Conversely, technology also enables advocacy, healing, and resistance for Indigenous communities facing the MMIR crisis.
• Examples of technological use by Native communities include AMBER alerts, digital news, sovereign crowdsourced databases, social media groups, and resistance movements.
• There is a notable lack of critical research within the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) field concerning technology's specific role in shaping the MMIR crisis.

Source

arXiv — Computers and Society — https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.17966