CSE 590 F Seminar

4:00 pm,  Wednesday,  February 4

CSE 403.

The importance of social movement networks in development communication: Lessons from the Zapatista Movement in Chiapas, Mexico

Maria Garrido,  UW Center of Information & Society

ABSTRACT:

The research explores the contribution of social movements’ networks to promote economic and social development in marginalized communities in Latin America. In particular, it draws upon the experiences of the Zapatista Movement in Chiapas, Mexico, to illustrate the way in which the actors that formed the Zapatista solidarity network are collaborating and working together with the movement’s members to improve the lives of the indigenous communities in the region and promoting social change. The last decade has seen a resurgence of civil society organizations collaborating with one and other in the quest for social change. Fueled in part by the development of information technologies – particularly the Internet – these organizations are finding alternative spaces of communication to voice their concerns and raise awareness of locally engrained social struggles beyond their borders. These alternative communication spaces, inherently, are also enabling civil society organizations to build local, national, and transnational alliances with other actors working together against the negative effects of what they perceive as a socially predatory economic globalization process. The research uses social network analysis and network ethnography to tease out the structure of the Zapatista network, the resources that flow within the network and the impact they have in promoting development goals, and the factors at the local, national, and international level that influence what social movement networks can accomplish in their pursuit of social change.

BIO:

Maria Garrido is a research associate for the Center of Information & Society at the University of Washington. Her research explores the role of information technology in fostering economic development in low-income communities in Latin America, the United States, and in a recent study, in Central and Eastern Europe. She has published research on how grassroots organizations make use of information technology as a tool to mobilize civil society and to create networks of solidarity to work towards social change  She earned her Bachelor’s degree in International Relations at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, a Masters in International Relations at the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in Communications at the University of Washington.