Tribal Data Sovereignty: A Summary of Structures, Systems, Principles, Laws, and Related Resources with an Emphasis on New Mexico

This project examines the landscape of available scholarship and identifies key concepts, frameworks, and mechanisms that have been developed and are central to the creation of partnerships between Tribal and state public health professionals. Public health professionals, both on and off of Tribal lands, need data to inform decision making for health and education, funding, and resource allocation. Effective collection and use of data that includes Tribal Peoples must engage best practices for data stewardship and protection, recognizing the embedded biases of frameworks and theory, while finding mechanisms to enable public health actions and policy making in real time. Data sovereignty is the issue of control rights related to not just ownership of datasets, but also rights related to control over data collection, use, and dissemination, including arrangements for sharing and protection of information. This sovereignty is an inherent right of Tribal nations and is based in both self-governance principles and treaty rights. It is critical to recognize that identification of variables, what may be considered as data, and interpretation of meaning are all grounded in the worldview of the person asking the question, and “science” is neither unbiased nor objective for this reason. There are best practices that can be employed to support interoperability and data sharing while preserving the sovereignty of Tribal groups and ensuring ethical management of data.