video, advocacy, and knowledge in oaxaca, mexico PDF
Preview video, advocacy, and knowledge in oaxaca, mexico
UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff KKeennttuucckkyy UUKKnnoowwlleeddggee University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2005 MMEEDDIIAATTIINNGG IINNDDIIGGEENNOOUUSS IIDDEENNTTIITTYY:: VVIIDDEEOO,, AADDVVOOCCAACCYY,, AANNDD KKNNOOWWLLEEDDGGEE IINN OOAAXXAACCAA,, MMEEXXIICCOO Laurel Catherine Smith University of Kentucky RRiigghhtt cclliicckk ttoo ooppeenn aa ffeeeeddbbaacckk ffoorrmm iinn aa nneeww ttaabb ttoo lleett uuss kknnooww hhooww tthhiiss ddooccuummeenntt bbeenneefifittss yyoouu.. RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Smith, Laurel Catherine, "MEDIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: VIDEO, ADVOCACY, AND KNOWLEDGE IN OAXACA, MEXICO" (2005). University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations. 359. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/gradschool_diss/359 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. 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ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION Laurel Catherine Smith The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2005 MEDIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: VIDEO, ADVOCACY, AND KNOWLEDGE IN OAXACA, MEXICO ______________________________________ ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION ______________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Laurel Catherine Smith Lexington, Kentucky Co-Directors: Dr. John Paul Jones III, Professor of Geography and Dr. Susan Roberts, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2005 Copyright © Laurel Catherine Smith 2005 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION MEDIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: VIDEO, ADVOCACY, AND KNOWLEDGE IN OAXACA, MEXICO In the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, many indigenous communities further their struggles for greater political and cultural autonomy by working with transnational non- governmental organizations (NGOs). Communication technology (what I call comtech) is increasingly vital to these intersecting socio-spatial relations of activism and advocacy. In this dissertation, I examine how comtech offer indigenous individuals and organizations with the means for visualizing their political-cultural agendas. Approaching the access and use of comtech, especially video technologies, as a partial and situated technoscience, I inquire into how and why these activities reconfigure the production and evaluation of authoritative knowledge about indigenous peoples, places, and practices. More specifically, I undertook an organizational ethnography of a small intermediary NGO comprised of individuals who self-identify as indigenous and others who do not, Ojo de Agua Comunicación Indígena, which endeavors to place communication technologies (especially video equipment) at the disposal of indigenous communities. Through participation-observation and interviews, I explored this group’s everyday strategies of networking in the name of assisting indigenous actors’ access and appropriation of visual technologies. I also pursued interpretive analyses of video-mediated articulations of indigenous knowledge and identity that were enabled by Ojo de Agua. My research indicates that Ojo de Agua has selectively built upon the ambitions and the socio-spatial connections of a government program that emerged from the initiatives of academic advocates, who sought to open new spaces of participation for indigenous peoples. Members of Ojo de Agua have, however, found their goal of service somewhat stymied by a situation that positions them within a flexible labor force of knowledge workers. Their livelihoods as media makers did not allow them (the time or money) to pursue as much altruism and advocacy as they would have liked. Nonetheless, Ojo de Agua’s corpus of videos established the group as an alternative and yet authoritative source of visual knowledge of indigenous peoples, places, and practices. This relocation of advocacy is symptomatic of the creative destruction fueled by the neo-liberal economic policies that, for the last thirty years, have been reconfiguring spaces of cooperation and conflict in Latin America. KEYWORDS: Indigenous Peoples, Mexico, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Communication Technologies, Cultural Politics MEDIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: VIDEO, ADVOCACY, AND KNOWLEDGE IN OAXACA, MEXICO By Laurel Catherine Smith Dr. John Paul Jones III, Professor of Geography Co-Director of Dissertation Dr. Susan Roberts, Professor of Geography Co-Director of Dissertation Wolfgang Natter, Professor of Geography Director of Graduate Studies RULES FOR THE USE OF DISSERTATIONS Unpublished dissertations submitted for the Doctor’s degree and deposited in the University of Kentucky Library are as a rule open for inspection, but are to be used only with due regard to the rights of the authors. Bibliographic references may be noted, but quotations or summaries of parts may be published only with permission of the author, and with the usual scholarly acknowledgements. Extensive copying or publication of the dissertation in whole or in part also requires the consent of the Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Kentucky. A library that borrows this dissertation for use by its patrons is expected to secure the signatures of each user. Name Date DISSERTATION Laurel Catherine Smith The Graduate School University of Kentucky 2005 MEDIATING INDIGENOUS IDENTITY: VIDEO, ADVOCACY, AND KNOWLEDGE IN OAXACA, MEXICO ______________________________________ DISSERTATION ______________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Laurel Catherine Smith Lexington, Kentucky Co-Directors: Dr. John Paul Jones III, Professor of Geography and Dr. Susan Roberts, Professor of Geography Lexington, Kentucky 2005 Copyright © Laurel Catherine Smith 2005 To my beloved, supportive, and mightily patient family.
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