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Open Heritage Press
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Indigenous Rights & Digital Humanities Research Group
Interdisciplinary Research | Indigenous Rights | Cultural Heritage | Digital Humanities | Responsible AI
The Indigenous Rights & Digital Humanities Research Group is an interdisciplinary initiative of the Maya Heritage Center that brings together researchers working across Indigenous rights, legal anthropology, cultural and linguistic heritage, digital humanities, and emerging technologies.
Our work connects academic research with community knowledge, documentary and legal evidence, digital tools, and responsible applications of artificial intelligence. We are particularly interested in research that supports Indigenous rights, cultural continuity, access to justice, and the preservation and responsible use of cultural knowledge.
Our Research Areas
Indigenous Rights & Free, Prior and Informed Consent
We study Indigenous consultation and Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) by examining laws, court decisions, institutional practices, and consultation processes. Our goal is to organize this information in ways that allow researchers and communities to better understand how Indigenous rights are implemented in practice.
Legal Anthropology & Legal Pluralism
We examine how state law interacts with Indigenous systems of governance, community institutions, human rights, and culturally specific forms of decision-making and dispute resolution. This work recognizes law as both a formal system and a social and cultural practice.
Cultural & Linguistic Heritage
We document and study cultural heritage, language, public spaces, and visual expressions of identity. Our work includes developing organized photographic and linguistic collections that preserve context, research information, and community perspectives.
Digital Humanities & Research Infrastructure
We create digital systems that help researchers organize, preserve, and analyze legal, documentary, photographic, linguistic, and cultural-heritage materials. These may include databases, metadata, digital archives, visualization, and computational research tools, while maintaining clear sources and research provenance.
Responsible Artificial Intelligence
We explore how AI can assist researchers working with large and complex collections of documents, images, legal materials, and cultural information. Applications may include document classification, information extraction, semantic and multimodal analysis, and research assistance. Human oversight, source verification, privacy, and cultural sensitivity remain central to this work.
Current Research Initiatives
Indigenous Rights & Digital Research Infrastructure
This initiative develops digital tools and research resources for studying Indigenous rights, legal systems, linguistic heritage, and community knowledge. It brings together legal research, documentary evidence, structured datasets, and responsible computational methods.
FPIC & Indigenous Rights Digital Observatory
The Observatory organizes legislation, jurisprudence, institutional information, and other sources related to Indigenous consultation and FPIC. It is designed to help researchers identify developments over time, compare legal frameworks, and conduct systematic research with traceable sources.
Linguistic Landscape Research Platform
This platform organizes photographs, linguistic observations, metadata, and related documentation to study language and cultural expression in public spaces. It also explores responsible computational and AI-assisted methods for identifying patterns within visual and linguistic materials.
Systematization of Prior Consultation in Mexico
This funded research project, led by Dr. José Israel Herrera and supported by Mexico’s SecretarÃa de Ciencia, Humanidades, TecnologÃa e Innovación (SECIHTI) through the Autonomous University of Campeche, examines the legal and institutional foundations of Indigenous consultation in Mexico. The project contributes legal information and structured research data to the group’s broader work on Indigenous rights and digital research.
Our Approach
Our research is guided by six principles:
Research rigor — technology strengthens, rather than replaces, scholarly research.
Traceability — findings remain connected to identifiable sources.
Human oversight — researchers remain responsible for interpretation and conclusions.
Responsible AI — technology is used transparently and with appropriate safeguards.
Community-centered research — Indigenous knowledge, participation, context, and rights are respected.
Open knowledge and collaboration — when ethically and legally appropriate, research and digital resources are made accessible and reusable.
Research, Publishing & Knowledge Sharing
The Research Group forms part of the broader intellectual and community-oriented work of Maya Heritage Center, connecting research with Open Heritage Press and the Journal of Maya Heritage. Together, these initiatives support scholarly communication, open-access publishing, digital research, and community-centered knowledge production.
Research Leadership
Dr. José Israel Herrera
Research Group Lead, Indigenous Rights & Digital Humanities
Professor-Researcher, Autonomous University of Campeche, Mexico
Founder and Director, Open Heritage Press
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Maya Heritage
His areas of research include Indigenous rights, FPIC, legal anthropology, legal pluralism, human rights, cultural and linguistic heritage, digital humanities, empirical legal research, and responsible artificial intelligence.
About Maya Heritage Center
Maya Heritage Center is a U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to research, education, cultural preservation, community engagement, and collaboration related to Maya heritage and Indigenous knowledge systems. The Center connects researchers, educational institutions, communities, and international partners to support both scholarly research and community-centered cultural initiatives.
