0.2.1 Case study: Zapotec villagers in the digital era

Publication Date

1-29-2026

Document Type

Contribution to a Book

Publication Title

Practicing Digital Ethnography

DOI

10.4324/9781032672663-4

First Page

13

Last Page

19

Abstract

This case study explores how Zapotec people from the village of Talea de Castro, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, created their own cellphone network—without any help from telecom companies or government agencies. It also analyzes the ways in which villagers are using new digital technologies to reproduce and reinforce indigenous identities in a global context. The author includes a discussion of how digital ethnography can take the form of visiting virtual worlds, such as Talea de Castro’s Facebook Group, which has more than 12, 000 members.

Department

Anthropology

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