OF RHIZOMES AND RADIO: NETWORKING INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY MEDIA IN OAXACA, MEXICO by EMILY N. MYERS A THESIS Presented to the Department of International Studies and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts September 2016 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Emily N. Myers Title: Of Rhizomes and Radio: Networking Indigenous Community Media in Oaxaca, Mexico This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of International Studies by: Derrick Hindery Chairperson Robert Haskett Member Stephen Wooten Member and Scott L. Pratt Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2016. ii © 2016 Emily N Myers This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (United States) License. iii THESIS ABSTRACT Emily N. Myers Master of Arts Department of International Studies September 2016 Title: Of Rhizomes and Radio: Networking Indigenous Community Media in Oaxaca, Mexico In the face of a shifting political climate in Latin America, movements for indigenous rights and autonomy are leveraging community media in new ways transcending the state-market binary. Through ethnographic research with Zapotec media producers in Oaxaca and the supportive organizations forming points of connection between radios and activists, I argue that the strength of the indigenous community media movement in Oaxaca, and its potential to build a movement to resist destructive state and market forces, is best explained by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari’s concept of the rhizome, which portrays Oaxacan indigenous media as a map of heterogeneous interconnections defying structural hierarchies and binaries. With this picture of a rhizomatic media movement, I demonstrate how radios have paved the way for innovations, revealing creative ways that indigenous groups are connecting with each other and the outside world, while asserting agency in their interactions with the market and the state. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Emily N. Myers GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon Montreat College, Montreat, North Carolina DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, International Studies, 2016, University of Oregon Bachelor of Science, Communications, 2011, Montreat College AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Alternative Media Indigenous Social Movements Community Development Nongovernmental Organizations Latin America PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon Sept. 2015 – June 2016 Spain & Portugal Programs Advisor Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon Sept. 2014 – June 2015 Academic Advisor, Department of International Studies Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon Sept. 2013 – June 2014 Teacher’s Assistant, Department of International Studies GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Office of International Affairs, 2015 – present Graduate Teaching Fellowship, Department of International Studies, 2013 – 2015 v Thurber Graduate Award, Department of International Studies, 2015 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express sincere gratitude first to Derrick Hindery, for serving as my chair and providing me with support and guidance throughout this process. Also to Robert Haskett and Stephen Wooten, thank you for serving on my committee! Your feedback and unique perspectives on the research have been integral to the project. Kathie Carpenter, I cannot thank you enough for helping me through the International Studies program with your insights and advice. I am endlessly grateful to the Department of International Studies for accepting me into this Master’s program, and helping to fund my research. Thanks also to Ivan Sandoval Cervantes, for editing help and encouragement along the way, to Lindsay Pepper for your friendship and cheerleading, Sam Myers and Amy Pennell for accompanying me on research trips and giving me endless support, Tyler Torola for being my tech savvy better half, and Juan Mario Perez and Loreto Bravo for believing in my research and connecting me with communities. This product would not be possible without all of your help, support, and inspiration, so thank you. vii This thesis is dedicated to all the people I had the privilege to accompany in their work during my research. To the networks of indigenous communicators working tirelessly to rescue their identities from homogenizing forces, in the face of multiple oppressions boldly repeating the message: aqui estamos. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Preface: A Vignette from the Field ........................................................................ 1 Contested Terms: Globalization, Neoliberalism, and Development ..................... 3 Neoliberalism, Globalization, and Alter-Globalization Movements ............... 4 Statement of the Problem and Significance of Study ............................................ 6 Thesis Scope and Organization .............................................................................. 8 II. METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................. 11 Introduction: Methods ............................................................................................ 11 Participatory Ethnography and Activist Research ........................................... 12 Research Sample .............................................................................................. 17 Key Questions and Arguments ........................................................................ 20 Data Analysis................................................................................................... 21 General Characteristics of the Interview Sample............................................. 22 Research Setting..................................................................................................... 24 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 29 III. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................... 30 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 30 ix Chapter Page The Contemporary Context of Community Media ................................................ 31 The Mexican Context ....................................................................................... 35 Radio in Mexico ............................................................................................... 37 NAFTA, the EZLN, and the APPO ....................................................................... 39 The APPO and Oaxaca’s Awakening .............................................................. 41 Rhizomes and Community Media ......................................................................... 44 Conclusion............................... .............................................................................. 54 IV. INDIGENOUS RADIO AND MEDIA POLICY IN MEXICO ............................ 56 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 56 Implications of the 2014 Ley de Telecomunicación .............................................. 57 Ayotzinapa and a Criminal State ..................................................................... 61 NAFTA and Militarized Mexico ..................................................................... 62 Adelante: Community Media and Policy Changes .......................................... 64 The State, the Market, and Indigenous Radio ....................................................... 67 Indigenous Autonomy and Self-Determination ............................................... 71 Privatized Air and Radio Spectrum as Social Good ........................................ 73 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 75 V. RHIZOMATIC INDIGENOUS MEDIA IN OAXACA ........................................ 77 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 77 Rhizomática: Decolonizing Technology................................................................ 80 The Importance of Free and Open Software .................................................... 88 x Palabra Radio: Women on the Airwaves ............................................................... 92 Zapotec Women and Feminism from Below ................................................... 93 Radio en Bola and the Next Generation ............................................................... 99 The Milpa and Indigenous Cosmovisions........................................................ 101 Indigenous Radio and Extractive Industry ............................................................. 107 VI. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 113 Connected Yet Autonomous ............................................................................ 113 Areas for Further Research .............................................................................. 117 Oaxacalifornia: Out Migration