Smartphone Movement: A Method of Decolonization by Indigenous Youth

The Smartphone Movement is a cultural movement initiated by the younger generation to safeguard their ancestral lands. This movement began in the villages of Minahasa, led by several Minahasan indigenous youths, as a form of cultural responsibility from a generation aware of the benefits of technology for the public and the generations to come.

It is called a movement because the awareness regarding the effectiveness of using smartphones as an effort to protect ancestral lands is shared by many. This consciousness is held by many indigenous youths in the villages.

Smartphones are used as a medium to document, disseminate information, create works (writing, film, and graphics), and interact with many people anywhere, at any time, in real-time. This is also supported by the immense features and benefits of Social Media.

In Minahasa, the Smartphone Movement manifests in the optimization of smartphone usage. Smartphones can be used to write (reportage, essays, social media status updates), take photos, create images/graphics (memes/infographics, logos, pamphlets, and other graphic works), make films (recording/editing/distributing), and communicate intensively in indigenous languages via smartphone.

In Minahasa, the two most common activities within the Smartphone Movement are Writing and Filmmaking. However, training in photography and creating Graphic works on smartphones is also conducted.

Writing

In Minahasa, writing training is conducted by writing communities or arts/cultural communities in the villages. The participants are village youths using smartphones. Participants interview, take pictures, and write on their smartphones. Once the writing is finished, it is discussed in WhatsApp/Facebook groups or posted directly on social media to be disseminated.

Filmmaking

Current smartphone specifications are capable of creating a video or a short film. In addition to being affordable, the variety of smartphone choices is vast. This leads many young people to choose smartphones for multimedia purposes, including filmmaking. In the villages of Minahasa, many youths are interested in making films with smartphones. They create funny short films, cultural-arts activities, and short films about their villages via smartphone. Applications for filmmaking on smartphones are very easy to obtain, with both free and paid options available for download.

Making films with smartphones (Smartphone Cinematography) is also the precursor to the birth of the Smartphone Movement. Made via smartphone means video images are recorded, edited, posted, and disseminated on Social Media via smartphone. The size of videos/films made on smartphones is usually small, but the image quality remains good, so it does not consume too much internet quota when uploaded compared to those made on computers. Additionally, because they are made on smartphones, the duration of the videos/films is relatively short. This makes people more interested in watching them upon upload due to data quota considerations. Another benefit is that the videos/films can be directly uploaded or shared without the need for sometimes complicated transfers, as is the case when videos/films are made on computers.

News Video

In addition to films, other works that can be created are videos. There are many types of videos, one of which is news video. Today, with smartphones and the internet, everyone can become a journalist or news reporter. Social Media has become the right medium for conveying information. Many online media outlets have subsequently done the same, making breakthroughs in news presentation by choosing video as the format. News Video or video news, which could previously only be seen on television (TV) screens and broadcast by TV stations, is now also being taken over by online newspapers or online media. Now, technological developments allow anyone—not just TV stations and online media—to become a video reporter and create news videos. Via smartphone, people can create news videos containing events, reports of village activities, and so forth.

Taking Photos

Smartphone cameras allow everyone to become a photographer, capturing moments, people, and stories in photos. This includes documenting activities themed around art, culture, and tradition, as well as capturing natural landscapes and portraits of the village. This method is used by indigenous youth to document events, moments, sites, rites, customs, and their culture.

Creating Graphic Works

Today, smartphone platforms provide various graphic processing applications, both free and paid, offline and online. Many people use this convenience to create graphic works such as flyers, pamphlets, leaflets, memes, photo editing, posters, and more. Village activities are publicized via digital pamphlets made on smartphones.

Communication in Indigenous Languages

Various types of social media have been created, making people enjoy staying in communication even more. Voice calls, video calls, or simple chatting have become the choices. This type of communication medium is also used as a learning space by young people; indigenous youths learn and relearn their indigenous languages together.

Source of Knowledge / School / University

Smartphones today are no longer understood merely as communication tools. When they have the internet as their “soul,” they become increasingly powerful. From a smartphone, people are able to search for any information or knowledge they desire; the internet makes this possible. Thus, the smartphone becomes a new vessel for learning and schooling—a source of knowledge that can be held in one’s hand.

Works—whether in the form of writing, graphics, photos, or films—exert a major influence on Minahasa culture. Many people are influenced and inspired by works created via smartphone. Because so many people choose to use smartphones, this can be called a movement. When smartphones are used creatively and by many people, the movement to build and protect Ancestral Lands becomes increasingly effective. This is the Smartphone Movement: optimizing smartphones to learn from and inspire one another.

Fundamentally, the idea of the Smartphone Movement was born in the village, by the youth, the indigenous youth of Minahasa. They use smartphones to build and protect their villages. They make films, photos, news videos, and graphic works about Minahasa culture, their activities such as gardening, hunting, performing arts, tracing ancestral footsteps, and many other things. This idea and spirit allowed the Smartphone Movement to quickly connect with the struggle of indigenous youth across the archipelago. They share the same spirit of struggle: returning home, building the village, and managing ancestral territories. This vision allowed the Smartphone Movement to connect directly with the indigenous youth movement in the archipelago, namely the Indigenous Youth Front of the Archipelago (BPAN).

With smartphones, indigenous youth can produce their own stories and the latest information about their indigenous communities for the world. Indigenous youth can also control the messages they wish to convey. Through documentation work via smartphone, indigenous youth can also directly verify and ensure what is true or what is actually happening in indigenous communities. Documentation with smartphones is used by indigenous youth as evidence to refute unilateral claims occurring in ancestral territories.

The smartphone is used by indigenous youth as a tool of resistance. Combined with an internet connection, it becomes even stronger. The documentation work produced by indigenous youth via smartphone can be used as a statement of position and a claim over the existence of the indigenous community. Furthermore, creating documentation via smartphone is one of the ways indigenous youth refute the negative perception that indigenous peoples are backward and technologically illiterate. The works produced via smartphone are also made to educate and inspire many people to care more about indigenous peoples, nature, and the life within. This is what indigenous youth across the archipelago have been and are currently doing.

How We Reclaim the Narrative

In Minahasa, I focus on optimizing every feature of the smartphone to serve our culture. We use it to document, to inform, and to create in real-time. My approach covers several key pillars:

• Cinematography & Filmmaking: This is the cornerstone of my work. I teach youth that high-quality storytelling doesn’t require expensive gear. By recording, editing, and distributing films entirely on mobile devices, we create content that is data-efficient, authentic, and ready for global consumption.

• Grassroots Journalism: I believe that with a smartphone and the internet, every one of us is a guardian of the truth. We produce news videos to report on our village activities, bypassing biased media narratives.

• The Digital Language Room: We use digital platforms to reclaim our mother tongues. In the privacy of chats and video calls, we lose our fear of making mistakes and begin to breathe life back into the Minahasan language.

• A Portable University: To me, the smartphone is a “school in the palm of your hand.” When connected to the internet, it becomes a portal for self-education and resistance.

Technology as a Method of Decolonization

On July 9, 2021, I had the opportunity to discuss my philosophy with a global audience of filmmakers and activists. I argued then, as I do now, that the Smartphone Movement is fundamentally a method of decolonization.

To me, decolonization is the process of dismantling colonial power and freeing ourselves from the “colonial mind” that still lingers. It is about returning to our roots and being exactly who we are.

For centuries, the world has consumed information about indigenous peoples through a colonial lens. While historical archives are valuable, we have a mandate to tell our own stories, in our own voices, from our own perspective. Through writing, photography, and film, we speak honestly about our history and our culture—directly from us, to the world.

Challenging the Stigma

I am committed to dismantling the stigma that living in a village makes you primitive, or that indigenous peoples are “technologically illiterate.” Through this movement, I want to show that we are tech-savvy, open-minded, and deeply connected to the future.

By using smartphones, we provide a counter-narrative to media that favors capital and power. We are not just consumers of technology; we are its masters, using it to build, to protect, and to honor the Tana’ Minahasa.

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Kalfein Maikel Wuisan Initiator of the Smartphone Movement | Filmmaker | Cultural Researcher