The cultural economy of mobile inclusion: A multi-sited ethnography of mobile media decolonization among Guarani

Period: September 2012 – January 2020

Investigator: Sarah Wagner, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

Description: This project is Sarah Wagner‘s doctoral dissertation, who is interested in the topics of development and digital divides, specifically in Bolivia and Argentina. Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol serves as her thesis director.

In the first stage of her research, Sarah partnered with the Comunidad de Estudios JAINA and the Consejo Capitanías Guaraní de Tarija, to examine communication technology access and use in 12 Guaraní communities in Villa Montes, Bolivia. Through qualitative interviews and focus group sessions they bring together community perspectives on ICT (including telephony, computers, the Internet, radio, and television) in order to develop recommendations for the installation of locally relevant communication technology solutions.

In the following stage, she partnered with Instituto Teko Guarani in Glew, Argentina, to work on bringing together community perspectives on new media, mass media and mobile technology to support the development and production of locally relevant technology services and platforms. Activities include qualitative interviews and a community workshop.

You can access and read Sarah’s thesis by clicking on the link below.

Links:

Image by Sarah Wagner.