Behind the screens: Imitating, Appropriating, and Decolonising on TikTok

Behind the screens: Imitating, Appropriating, and Decolonising on TikTok

The platform of @shinanova

Introduction

Social media platforms have been praised for allowing users to consume, create, and exchange content dynamically, allowing them to become ‘podusers’ of these contents (Bruns, 2007). Based on these conventional frameworks, social media could offer useful spaces for decolonising dialogues to take place, with members of the digital public sharing and exchanging knowledges in an egalitarian way. However, these frameworks have received heavy criticism in recent years, pointing out that, just as any other social exchange of content and knowledge, social media cannot be separated from their socio-cultural contexts. Instead, these platforms, the content they host, and the dialogues that take place within them, are shaped by questions of access, representation, and the prerequisites and limitations of certain information infrastructures. Below, I present a case study of how one of the most popular social media platforms operates in a post-colonial context of power.

I begin my examination with a brief introduction to the Inuit vocal game katajjaq and present the growing TikTok platform of Inuk influencer and throat singer @shinanova. Based on digitally conducted primary research, I examine how the soundscapes of her katajjaq content are reused and reframed by other TikTok content creators, what dynamics of power are revealed in the process and what digital identities are negotiated through them. Finally, I analyse specific cases of these soundscape-appropriations and call on established frameworks from anthropological as well as STS literature for a more nuanced understanding of the epistemic hierarchies at play. I conclude that although an intriguing attempt to re-orient social media platforms for sharing indigenous knowledges, its affect is limited. Nevertheless, further critical examination of indigenous creators’ content could allow for a more complex understanding of the post-colonial power dynamics they are embedded in.

Katajjaq and the colonial encounter

Katajjaq is traditionally practiced by Inuit women throughout the Canadian Arctic (Nattiez, 1983 p. 458). As Nattiez importantly points out, ‘throat singing’ is not an exact translation of katajjaq, but a misnomer, derived from colonial descriptions of the practice (Nattiez, 1983 p. 459). Below, I use the classification of ethnomusicologists, who have described and studied katajjaq as a vocal game. Although classifying katajjaq as ‘singing’ could bring with it a host of socio-cultural connotations from different auditory traditions, @shinanova herself identifies as a throat singer and uses the expression ‘throat singing’ to discuss katajjaq. Therefore, I use both ‘throat singing’ and ‘vocal game’ interchangeably to refer to the practice throughout this essay.

Katajjaq can be characterised as a social event – a dialogue, a competition, or a game. Traditionally, katajjaq consists of two women standing face-to-face, and competitively executing rhythmic patterns of breath and vocal sounds answering to one another (Stévance, 2010 p. 85). The goal is to continue the dialogical rhythm by imitating or slightly modifying the previous sound, until one of the competitors makes a mistake or runs out of breath, which is usually followed by laughter. The melody resulting from the game consists of sighs, grunts, and imitations of landscape and animal sounds.

The last two centuries’ history of katajjaq and the Inuit women who practice it is overshadowed by experiences of colonisation, oppression, and cultural genocide. Nattiez, who has published about katajjaq practices extensively, only refers to this in a footnote to his comparative analysis of Inuit vocal games and Siberian throat singing: ‘The Anglican ones forbid them [the katajjaq practices] after 1920’ (Nattiez, 1999 p. 417). However, this brief reference to outlawing the Inuit vocal games does not even cover a fraction of the effects the encounters between indigenous nations and colonial forces in Northern Canada had on Inuit culture and society. These colonial encounters were characterised by the appropriation of land as well as the introduction of the residential school system, which was made compulsory in 1920 (Henderson and Wakeham, 2009 p. 8). This policy, and others from the same period, was put in place to further the assimilation of indigenous groups to the colonial society of Canada.

A 2015 report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC; a body established by the Canadian Government in 2008) shares data about the effects of residential schools. During its existence between the 1880s and 1990s, over 150,000 First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students passed through the residential school system (TRC, 2015 p. 3). The system assumed and reinforced the government’s discourse regarding European cultures and Christian religions being superior to indigenous belief systems and ways of life. It attempted to erase the cultural heritage and local knowledges of indigenous groups, while institutionalising child neglect, alienation, and in many cases allowing for sexual and physical abuse (TRC, 2015 p. 4). The death rate among indigenous children in the residential school system was several times higher than the national average for children of the same age. Although the exact number of students who lost their lives in residential schools is unknown because these incidents often went unreported, the TRC identified 3,201 reported deaths between 1867 and 1990 (2015 p. 92). As the authors of the report put it:

‘Physical genocide is the mass killing of the members of a targeted group […]. Cultural genocide is the destruction of those structures and practices that allow the group to continue as a group. […] Land is seized, and populations are forcibly transferred and their movement is restricted. Languages are banned. Spiritual leaders are persecuted, spiritual practices are forbidden, and objects of spiritual value are confiscated and destroyed. […] In its dealing with Aboriginal people, Canada did all these things.’

Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2015 p. 1 (emphasis added)

However, as D’Souza importantly points out, the disproportionate hardships faced by indigenous women in Canada can still be characterised as genocide (D’Souza, 2021). A report published under the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG) in 2019 showed that women from indigenous backgrounds were 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other woman in Canada and 16 times more likely than Caucasian women (NIMMIWG, 2019 p. 55). Similarly, they are several times more likely to experience physical and sexual abuse throughout their lifetimes. Sexually exploited indigenous women and girls make up more than 90% of the visible sex trade in some communities of Canada, even where Indigenous people make up less than 10% of the population (Bourgeois, 2015).

Within these socio-historic dynamics, katajjaq, which is conventionally studied as a self-contained form of performance, ritual, or game becomes of heightened cultural significance. A practice, that was prohibited for most of the 20^th century, nearly going extinct as a result, performed by indigenous women, who continue to face abuse, oppression, and genocide, becomes a form of social resistance (D’Souza, 2021). Women who practice katajjaq and share it with wide audiences do not only share a cultural practice but draw attention to lived experiences of continuous abuse and oppression encountered by indigenous women. This form of resistance is also accentuated by the social activism of some Inuit throat singers. For example, Tanya Tagaq, the perhaps most well-known Inuk throat singer, who developed her unique musical style by blending traditional katajjaq techniques with electronic music, continues to speak up about the oppression faced by indigenous communities in Canada (Stévance, S., 2010.; see also in her interview with Flare [Hensley, 2017] and her active communication on social media sites, such as Twitter [2022]). It is before this historic backdrop of oppression and resistance that @shinanova shares her throat singing with a global audience on the fastest growing social media platform, TikTok.

@shinanova

Shina Novalinga, better known by her TikTok handle @shinanova, brings katajjaq to a global audience through social media. The 24-year-old Inuk influencer now has a platform of 3.9 million followers and 135.8 million likes on TikTok. She gained considerable recognition after going viral in March 2020 with a video she posted of herself and her mother practicing katajjaq. Since then, @shinanova’s TikTok platform has been growing continuously. In addition to videos which feature her practicing katajjaq with her mother, Caroline Novalinga (@kayuulanova), Shina also posts short videos sharing various parts of her indigenous heritage, including traditional cuisine and clothing (@shinanova 2021a; 2021c). She also actively posts about disproportionate hardships faced by indigenous communities in Canada, both in a historic context (see this TikTok on residential schools and in protest of the celebration of Canada Day[@shinanova, 2021d]) and current issues, such as food insecurity (@shinanova, 2021b).

Most of @shinanova’s throat singing videos feature her mother, @kayuulanova (although there are some, like this one, in which she is practicing alone[@shinanova, 2021e]). Caroline, who grew up in Puvirnituq, teaches Shina the techniques of katajjaq. According to an article published by the BBC on ‘A revival of Indigenous throat singing’, @kayuulanova was one of only four remaining throat singers in her village (Balsan and Foden, 2021).

Although this article may not be considered a conventional source of academic information, the text is based on interviews with Shina, Caroline, and Evie Mark, a throat singer, filmmaker, and professor at Nunavik Sivunitsavut (Inuit Art Foundation, 2022). It signifies the extent to which katajjaq is in danger of becoming extinct and reflects the experiences of Caroline and Shina as practicing and sharing their throat singing in an attempt to save what is almost lost. As Shina puts it: ‘We have all these platforms to finally put our foot down and speak up about our beautiful culture and embrace it’ (in Balsan and Foden, 2021). Based on this interview, Shina’s experience of resistance plays a role in forging her identity on two levels. First, her influencer work contributes to a lineage of social activism in drawing attention to and defying the historic oppression experienced by indigenous peoples, and specifically women, in Canada. Second, her work is inspired by her own family history, including her mother, Caroline, and her grandmother, Emily Novalinga, a poet who shared indigenous women’s experiences through her poetry. ‘It's important to speak about the culture because my grandparents, older generations didn't have the opportunity to speak up’ (Shina in Balsan and Foden, 2021; see also this TikTok from Shina, in which she shares one of her grandmother’s poems [@shinanova, 2021f]).

@shinanova My grandmother was a poet. Her voice needs to be heard. Emily Novalinga, Étincelante. #mmiw #nomorestolensisters #indigenous #poem ♬ original sound - Hannah Stater

@shinanova’s katajjaq TikToks are therefore manifestations of social resistance. However, the way in which social media content is produced does not necessarily reflect how people consume, interpret, or re-imagine it. Having outlined the socio-historic context of digital throat singing content, I now turn to present specific cases of how diverse digital publics have interacted with @shinanova’s katajjaq content on TikTok and examine what relations of power are revealed in the process.

Creation, recreation, imitation

Data collection and selection

The primary source of information I used for this project is the TikTok page of @shinanova. @shinanova’s profile has over 180 public videos, and approximately one third of these showcase throat singing. Her other videos pertain to highlighting underrepresented colonial histories of Canada, sharing some details of her cultural heritage, and raising awareness of current social issues faced by members of indigenous communities. Most of these TikToks use pre-existing soundtracks, while her katajjaq content features unique soundscapes of throat singing. @shinanova’s katajjaq videos average at around 4 million views, with the most popular one reaching over 25 million views of individual users (@shinanova, 2021g).

TikTok’s infrastructure is designed to allow creators to reuse each other’s soundtracks and ‘duet’ existing videos. While the ‘use this sound’ function will only integrate the soundtrack of a TikTok into the next one, by duetting a video, both the audio and visual features of the existing video become a part of a new TikTok. Both of these functionalities result in creative chains of reimaging and dynamically integrating existing videos into new ones. Studying @shinanova’s videos or users’ reactions to her content in the comment sections of her TikToks could have also made rich sources of information and allowed for a different type of qualitive analysis. However, the way in which users reuse and reimagine @shinanova’s katajjaq soundscapes reflect genuine interactions with her practice, rather than reactions to it. Therefore, I decided to follow the sound and focus my analysis on these re-creational chains of @shinanova’s throat singing videos and soundscapes.

I have identified three categories that encompass most of the ways in which users have interacted with her content. 1: TikToks which use the soundscape to accompany a video that showcases features of Inuit culture and highlights the colonial oppression faced by indigenous peoples in Canada. 2: TikToks that either integrate a soundscape or an entire video created by @shinanova and feature another creator (or a proxy) reacting to the vocal game. 3: TikToks that use a katajjaq soundtrack as decontextualised soundscape, comparing it to and using it to represent the sounds of unrelated entities and activities. Naturally, this is an imperfect categorisation of the more than 120 videos currently available with @shinanova’s katajjaq soundtracks. These categories, especially the first two, overlap in some instances, for example, with many videos of a creator reacting to @shinanova and @kayuulanova’s throat singing and referring to decolonisation in the video’s caption or hashtags. Although not exhaustive, they encompass the majority of interactions with @shinanova’s katajjaq content – rather than a pre-requisites to my research, these categories emerged from the digital field and allow for a critical framework in studying these interrelations.

1. Sharing decolonising content with katajjaq soundscapes

The first category includes TikToks that reuse @shinanova’s soundtracks and videos to accompany what I call decolonising content – videos that feature the lived experiences of indigenous peoples and/or critical historic accounts of colonial practices in Canada. Although these could be studied as distinct categories, I integrate them under ‘decolonising content’ because they very often appear together in TikToks using @shinanova’s soundscapes. Additionally, both of these approaches are inherently decolonising: one by critically engaging with rarely challenged historic narratives and the other by allowing insight to underrepresented ways of knowing and being in the world (or epistemologies and ontologies).

Let us turn to this video by @littleinukcora (2021) as our first example.

@littleinukcora I’m in Taloyoak, Nunavut where artifacts are being brought back to the community after just about 50 years. Stay tuned for photos to come! 🤩🤩😍😍😍#inuittiktok #inuitculture #indigenoustiktok #staytuned ♬ original sound - Shina Nova

This TikTok showcases Inuit artefacts that – according to the video’s caption – are being returned to the community after 50 years. The video integrates one of @shinanova’s katajjaq soundscapes, which becomes intertwined with notions of social resistance and reconciliation through its use by @littleinukcora. This resonates strongly with @shinanova’s narrative shown above for why they are being shared. Other TikToks escalate these dynamics of representation ever further.

This TikTok by @conseilesn (2021) video was posted by a joint account of students at an unnamed secondary school in Canada and showcases how the students celebrated the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

@conseilesn

Le 30 septembre dernier était la journée nationale de la vérité et de la réconciliation. Merci à tout ceux qui ont portées du orange🧡

♬ original sound - Shina Nova

@shinanova’s katajjaq soundscape is utilised in the video in remembrance of the lives of children that were lost to the residential school system. However, it does not only function as a way to evoke historic injustice and the culture that was targeted through residential schools. Instead, the sound itself becomes a representative of the children whose lives were lost. See a similar pattern of representation in these TikToks by @p_e_o_n_y (2021) and @x.o.x.o._abbie (2021) about missing indigenous women.

The TikToks that integrate @shinanova’s soundscapes to share decolonising content resonate the most with @shinanova’s narrative of why she is creating and sharing her own content. However, it is important to note that these videos are also among the least viewed, both relative to videos shown below and to the other videos of the same creators. This does not change the fact that they make critical historic narratives and some aspects of indigenous lived experiences accessible online, but nevertheless raises some questions about the extent to which they are reaching wide digital publics. Although these videos contain crucially important perspectives and accounts of indigenous experiences, they appear to be stuck in their own digital space, rather than going viral. This aligns with a long line of critiques of social media platforms’ failure to deliver their promises of egalitarian knowledge-sharing platforms (see further in Fuchs, 2021). Rather, platforms that function via recommending algorithms reproduce pre-existing dynamics of social imaginaries and representations (Robinson et. al., 2020) and thus tend to suppress indigenous content – which led to the theorisation of ‘platformed racism’ (Matamoros-Fernandez, 2017).[1]

2. Reacting to katajjaq soundscapes

The second category includes TikToks which feature other creators reacting to @shinanova and @kayuulanova practicing katajjaq. Although this category includes positive, negative, and neutral reactions, I focus my analysis on positive ones as the power-structures at play are less covert in negative reactions. See, for example, this video by @tanyagarcia321 (2021) reacting to a katajjaq video by @shinanova, in which she and @kayuulanova are throat singing face-to-face, wearing traditional Inuit clothing.

@tanyagarcia321 #duet with @shinanova ♬ original sound - Shina Nova

Her reaction seems positive, with stickers that read ‘beautiful’, ‘so pretty’, and ‘indigenous’ added on top of the original video. @tanyagarcia321 also appears in the frame of the original video for 2-3 second intervals. She does not offer additional commentary or clear facial expressions in reaction to the vocal game, but this creator felt it was important for her to be in the frame together with @shinanova and @kayuulanova. In this case, the digital space is reshaped into an almost material space, where @tanyagarcia321 appears to be in physical proximity to @shinanova. Many similar TikToks are shared as duets to the katajjaq videos, with creators appear together with the throat singing mother and daughter. The duet functionality of the platform allows for a simple way of creating these videos – however, the question emerges: why is this category so popular if little to no additional commentary is offered to accompany the original TikTok?

As mentioned above, some of these videos include ‘ proxies’. In these cases, the creator has someone else react to the katajjaq content. See, for example, this TikTok by @lovelylifewithlucy (2021), in which the creator is holding a child[2] and they are reacting to @shinanova’s most popular throat singing video together.

@lovelylifewithlucy #duet with @shinanova ♬ original sound - Shina Nova

@lovelylifewithlucy’s duet is visually different to @tanyagarcia321’s as her and the child appear next to the original video, as if they were looking upon them from the outside. The reaction seems positive at first, with both viewers smiling and laughing, reinforced by the caption which reads: ‘#duet with @shinanova – he loves it’. However, the lack of additional commentary and the visual framing of the TikTok raises complex questions pertaining to the power-dynamics at play.

In @lovelylifewithlucy’s video, Shina and Caroline’s vocal game appears as a curiosity, to be looked upon from the outside. This format inherently evokes the asymmetrical power-dynamics of the colonial gaze – the indigenous practice and persons themselves are decontextualised and reduced to what is seen as a self-containing performance. Although @tanyagarcia321 utilises a different format, in which she appears together with @shinanova and @kayuulanova visually, and thus, the same dynamics are less apparent, processes of decontextualization and reduction are also at play in her video. Although presumably, the positive reaction videos in this category are attempts at expressing curiosity and fondness, they reinforce post-colonial power-structures by evoking the colonial gaze. It is also important to note, that unlike the first category, the overwhelming majority of reaction TikToks are posted by creators from non-indigenous backgrounds (see further: videos by @ivyquinn_25 [2021]; @thehammer81 [2021]; @fakeblonde123456 [2021]; and @thickerthoughts [2021]).

3. Reimagining katajjaq soundscapes

The third category I discuss here encompasses videos that use @shinanova’s soundscapes in an entirely decontextualised manner, likening them to, and using them to represent entities and activities unrelated to the practice of katajjaq.

@chloeanncam22999

Omg I can’t with my dog🤣😂😂😂😂

♬ original sound - Shina Nova

This TikTok by @chloeanncam22999 (2021), for example, appropriates one of @shinanova’s katajjaq soundscapes, to represent the breathing of a Boston terrier, which are infamous having respiratory issues. There are several videos available on TikTok that compare the vocal game to different animal sounds. Although an interesting parallel with the origins of the practice, which include imitating animal and landscape sounds, likening them to a dog’s troubled breathing in this context is not only appropriating, but rendering the practice less-than-human.

@yo0ed #roomates #prefamous ♬ original sound - Shina Nova

This TikTok by @yo0ed, shows a man whose sleep is being disturbed. The text on the screen reads: ‘When your boy is steady clapping random cheeks in the other room at 6:04 am’. The video integrates the soundscape of @shinanova’s most popular katajjaq TikTok, using it to substitute for the sounds of sexual activity that are disturbing the man’s sleep. Beyond the overt decontextualization and denigrating use of the katajjaq soundscape, this ‘reimagination’ calls for critical evaluation in several ways.

First of all, this is a radical example of appropriation, in which a cultural practice of rich history is reduced to a function of ‘sound similar to something else’ and made to serve the sole purpose of entertaining a public disparate from its original socio-cultural context. Brown’s framework of copyrighting culture offers an interesting perspective of how similar appropriating practices may be controlled via legal action (Brown, 1998). Applying intellectual property law to katajjaq as a practice and the resulting soundscapes may be able to somewhat prevent appropriation. However, as Brown also points out, the internal logic of these legal practices are inherently incompatible with some indigenous epistemologies and thus inapplicable in many contexts.

No less important is the issue that, deliberately or not, the video connects the vocal game practiced by Inuit women with notions of sexuality, reinforcing and contributing to social imaginaries in which indigenous women are objectified and sexualised. This TikTok feeds into sexist, racist, and colonial ideals of indigenous women, which perpetuate their oppression and abuse. Cripps’s case study on media representations of indigenous women in sexual abuse cases offers a crucially important account of how these imaginaries are constructed and reinforced through mainstream media and the same dynamics are revealed in the creative chains of TikTok (Cripps, 2021).

Conclusion: TikTok – a decolonising platform or a platform in need of decolonisation?

As a popular content-sharing platform, TikTok may seem like an ideal avenue for sharing local knowledges and underrepresented cultural practices. Based on the narrative @shinanova provides to her audience, she attempts to use her growing platform to raise awareness of the nearly extinct practice of katajjaq and highlight disproportionate hardships faced by indigenous peoples in Canada both historically and in the present day. TikTok’s information infrastructure allows for simple ways of reusing and re-imagining content. By following the sound of @shinanova’s katajjaq TikToks, I found that the platform falls short of the ideal of an egalitarian knowledge-sharing platform. Instead, it reinforces and perpetuates post-colonial power-dynamics through evoking the colonial gaze as well as giving space for the appropriation and denigration of @shinanova’s content. Ultimately, though not as accounts of truly decolonised practices, future examinations of how members of the digital public interact with indigenous social media content could allow for a more nuanced understanding of the post-colonial structures of power they are deeply embedded in.

 

List of references

Balsan, J. and Foden, S., 2021. A revival of Indigenous throat singing. BBC. Online source. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20210414-a-revival-of-indigenous-throat-singing Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

BBC, 2019. TikTok censors references to Tiananmen and Tibet. BBC. Online source. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49826155. Viewed: 07. 02. 2022.

Bourgeois, R., 2015. Colonial exploitation: The Canadian state and the trafficking of Indigenous women and girls in Canada. UCLA L. Rev., 62, p.1426.

Brown, M.F., 1998. Can culture be copyrighted?. Current anthropology, 39(2), pp.193-222.

Bruns, A., 2007, June. Produsage. In Proceedings of the 6th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Creativity & Cognition (pp. 99-106).

Cripps, K., 2021. Media constructions of Indigenous women in sexual assault cases: reflections from Australia and Canada. Current issues in criminal justice, 33(3), pp.300-321.

D'Souza, Freda. 2021. From Vocal Game to Protest Song: The Complexities of Katajjaq. SOAS Undergraduate Research Journal 2(1): 53-61.

Fuchs, C., 2021. Twitter and Democracy: a new public sphere: In: Social media: A critical introduction. Sage.

Henderson, J. and Wakeham, P., 2009. Colonial reckoning, national reconciliation?: Aboriginal peoples and the culture of redress in Canada. ESC: English Studies in Canada, 35(1), pp.1-26.

Hensley, L., 2017. Impoverished": Tanya Tagaq on Indigenous Issues Right Now. Flare magazine. Online source. Available at: https://www.flare.com/tv-movies/tanya-tagaq/ Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

Inuit Art Foundation, 2022. Evie Mark. Online Source. Available at: https://www.inuitartfoundation.org/profiles/artist/Evie-Mark Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

Matamoros-Fernández A. Platformed racism: The mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Information, Communication & Society. 2017 Jun 3;20(6):930-46.

National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, 2019. Reclaiming Power and Place. Online source. Available at: https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a-1.pdf Viewed: 05. 02. 2022.

Nattiez, J.J., 1983. Some aspects of Inuit vocal games. Ethnomusicology, 27(3), pp.457-475.

Nattiez, J.J., 1999. Inuit throat-games and Siberian throat singing: A comparative, historical, and semiological approach. Ethnomusicology, 43(3), pp.399-418.

Nicholas, G. and Bannister, K., 2004. Copyrighting the past? Emerging intellectual property rights issues in archaeology. Current Anthropology, 45(3), pp.327-350.

Robinson, L., Schulz, J., Dunn, H., Casilli, A., Tubaro, P., Carveth, R., Chen, W., Wiest, J., Dodel, M., Stern, M. and Ball, C., 2020. Digital inequalities 3.0: Emergent inequalities in the information age. First Monday, 25.

Stévance, S., 2010. Analysis of the Inuit Katajjaq in Popular Culture: the Canadian Throat-Singer Superstar Tanya Tagaq.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2015. Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future. Online source. Available at: https://irsi.ubc.ca/sites/default/files/inline-files/Executive_Summary_English_Web.pdf Viewed: 05. 02. 2022.

Twitter, 2022. Tanya Tagaq’s profile: @tagaq. Online source. Available at: https://mobile.twitter.com/tagaq/ Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

 

 

Videos referenced

@chloeanncam22999, 2021. ‘Omg I can’t with my dog🤣😂😂😂😂’. Originally posted: 14. 07. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@chloeanncam22999/video/6984631923041733893?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@conseilesn, 2021. ‘Le 30 septembre dernier était la journée nationale de la vérité et de la réconciliation. Merci à tout ceux qui ont portées du orange🧡’. Originally posted: 11. 10. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@conseilesn/video/7017862268104838405?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@fakeblonde123456, 2021. No caption. Originally posted: 26. 03. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@fakeblonde123456/video/6943752516760800518 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@ivyquinn_25, 2021. ‘#duet with @shinanova I'm going to get this!!! 😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰’. Originally posted: 22. 06. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@ivyquinn_25/video/6976391523906718982?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@littleinukcora, 2021. ‘I’m in Taloyoak, Nunavut where artifacts are being brought back to the community after just about 50 years. Stay tuned for photos to come! 🤩🤩😍😍😍#inuittiktok #inuitculture #indigenoustiktok #staytuned’ Originally posted: 06. 10. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@littleinukcora/video/7016019726639975685?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@lovelylifewithlucy, 2021. ‘ #duet with @shinanova he loves it’. Originally posted: 16. 07. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@lovelylifewithlucy/video/6943521087955193094?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021a. ‘My #SuperMustHave is flour, in my culture we make paniqtita (bannock). What is your must have ingredient? 😊 #Sponsored @realcanadiansuperstore’ Originally posted: 12. 08. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6995329792757222662?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021b. Originally posted: 30. 08. 2021. ‘Share the causes you find most important by clicking the link in my bio to help MadeGood fight food insecurity! #ad #unwreckthefuture’ Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/7002291379862801669?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021c. ‘My little sister @juli3ann handmade her first Silapaaq 👏🏼 Proud sister here!!! #inuit #culture #indigenous #silapaaq’ Originally posted: 19. 07. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6986692929356156165?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021d. ‘TW! #residentialschool #indigenous #CancelCanadaDay #orangeshirtday’ Originally posted: 26. 06. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6978185246533504261?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021e. ‘Throat singing daily to keep our Inuit culture alive 🙌🏼 #throatsinger #inuittiktok #proud #song #autoctones’ Originally posted: 07. 08. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6993754321871473926?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021f. ‘My grandmother was a poet. Her voice needs to be heard. Emily Novalinga, Étincelante. #mmiw #nomorestolensisters #indigenous #poem’. Originally posted: 26. 01. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6922195636217449734?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@shinanova, 2021g. ‘We are still here and we are stronger than ever ✊🏼 #indigenous #throatsinging #inuit #culture #tradition @kayuulanova’. Originally posted: 25. 03. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@shinanova/video/6943415075285912837?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1&lang=en Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@tanyagarcia321, 2021. ‘ #duet with @shinanova’ Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@tanyagarcia321/video/6985321104994880773?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@thehammer81, 2021. ‘#duet with @shinanova #light #MyBrawlSuper #morningvibes #goodmorning #survivors #lightworker’.  Originally posted: 14. 12. 2021. Available: https://www.tiktok.com/@thehammer81/video/7041580485914397999 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@thickerthoughts, 2021. ‘#duet with @shinanova i hate when ppl always bully them for literally their culture. so beautiful’. Originally posted: 18. 04. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@thickerthoughts/video/6952301051147996421?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@x.o.x.o._abbie, 2021. ‘The links are in the comments so it’s easy to copy and paste🧡 #unwreckthefuture #mmigw #nomorestolensisters #notinvisible #mmiw’ Originally posted: 26. 09. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@x.o.x.o_abbie/video/7012131413273201926?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

@yo0ed, 2021. ‘#roomates #prefamous’. Originally posted: 26. 03. 2021. Available at: https://www.tiktok.com/@yo0ed/video/6943954641726033158?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id7061237995781490181 Viewed: 06. 02. 2022.

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[1] Moreover, in some cases, this suppression is deliberate rather than a product of the recommending algorithm. See, for example, Tibet-and Taiwan-related content being banned from TikTok (BBC, 2019).

[2] Some of the videos referenced here either feature or are posted by minors. Although using these materials raises critically important ethical questions, I have decided to include them as they are publicly available materials hosted on TikTok’s platform.