Resumo

SANDOVAL-FORERO, Eduardo A.. Indigenous people in cyberspace. agric. soc. desarro [online]. 2013, vol.10, n.2, pp.235-256. ISSN 1870-5472.

The use of digital technologies has become a two-faced coin that reflects the socioeconomic and political reality of the country. One face shows the generalized exclusion from cyberspace for most of the indigenous population, and the other presents multiple opportunities that indigenous towns, communities, and individuals have, in order to improve their collective and personal living conditions. In this study we reflect upon the organizational experience of indigenous peoples in Latin America and México, with regards to the appropriation of New Information and Communication Technologies (NICTs), as well as the use they make of them. Traditional and virtual ethnography methods were used, with qualitative participant observation and on-line observation techniques. Results indicate that the knowledge and use that indigenous people have of NICTs and how they use them are part of the inclusion and participation in the information highway, as well as the ethnic and cultural revitalization taking place within the national and international context.

Palavras-chave : digital gap; indigenous people on Internet; indigenous virtual networks; on-line territory.