Indigenous Interfaces: Spaces, Technology, and Social Networks in Mexico and Central America (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780816538003)

Cultural preservation, linguistic revitalization, intellectual heritage, and environmental sustainability became central to Indigenous movements in Mexico and Central America after 1992. While the emergence of these issues triggered important conversations, none to date have examined the role that new media has played in accomplishing their objectives.

Indigenous Interfaces provides the first thorough examination of indigeneity at the interface of cyberspace. Correspondingly, it examines the impact of new media on the struggles for self-determination that Indigenous peoples undergo in Mexico and Central America. The volume's contributors highlight the fresh approaches that Mesoamerica's Indigenous peoples have given to new media--from YouTubing Maya rock music to hashtagging in Zapotec. Together, they argue that these cyberspatial activities both maintain tradition and ensure its continuity. Without considering the implications of new technologies, Indigenous Interfaces argues, twenty-first-century indigeneity in Mexico and Central America cannot be successfully documented, evaluated, and comprehended.

Indigenous Interfaces rejects the myth that indigeneity and information technology are incompatible through its compelling analysis of the relationships between Indigenous peoples and new media. The volume illustrates how Indigenous peoples are selectively and strategically choosing to interface with cybertechnology, highlights Indigenous interpretations of new media, and brings to center Indigenous communities who are resetting modes of communication and redirecting the flow of information. It convincingly argues that interfacing with traditional technologies simultaneously with new media gives Indigenous peoples an edge on the claim to autonomous and sovereign ways of being Indigenous in the twenty-first century.

Contributors
Arturo Arias
Debra A. Castillo
Gloria Elizabeth Chac
Adam W. Coon
Emiliana Cruz
Taj?w D僘z Robles
Mauricio Espinoza
Alicia Ivonne Estrada
Jennifer Gez Menj咩ar
Sue P. Haglund
Brook Danielle Lillehaugen
Paul Joseph Lez Oro
Rita M. Palacios
Gabriela Spears-Rico
Paul Worley

Author: Jennifer Gez Menj咩ar
ISBN-10: 081653800X
ISBN-13: 9780816538003
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Language: English
Published: 05/07/2019
Pages: 304
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d