Activism for the Maya Territory of Yucatán on Facebook: A content analysis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47989/ir30358191Keywords:
Indigenous digital activism, social networks, Mayan people, megaprojects, YucatánAbstract
Introduction. Indigenous activism in digital spaces is becoming increasingly common. This study aims to analyse the activism of Mayan people of the Yucatan Peninsula, expressed in five Facebook pages: Indignación, Colectivo Maya de los Chenes, Red de Resistencia y Rebeldía Jó, Múuch’ Xíinbal, and Kanan, all managed from the Yucatán Peninsula.
Method. A content analysis was conducted on all posts from these five pages during the year 2023.
Analysis. Descriptive statistics were used for the analysis. A social network analysis was also applied to represent the connections between the pages and their sources.
Results. The results revealed that when the pages rely on information from civil associations, they tend to be more critical of the business sector, such as issues related to macro-farms, bees, or genetically modified maize. In contrast, when the primary source is the press, the pages are more critical of the State, with more focus on the Maya Train. On the other hand, the Maya Train is the most frequently discussed topic. However, other issues, such as macro-farms, bees, and maize, become more viral.
Conclusions. The results demonstrate that there is a clear association between specific topics and sources, and although these pages aim to highlight certain issues, they do not receive as much support.
References
Ávila García, P. (2016). Hacia una ecología política del agua en Latinoamérica. [Towards a political ecology of water in Latin America]. Revista de Estudios sociales, 55(1), 18-31. https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=81543788004
Celigueta Comerma G., & Martínez Mauri M. (2020). ¿Textiles mediáticos? Investigar sobre activismo indígena en Panamá, Guatemala y el espacio Web 2.0. [Media textiles? Researching Indigenous activism in Panama, Guatemala and the Web 2.0 space]. Revista Española de Antropología Americana, 50, 241-252. https://doi.org/10.5209/reaa.70367
Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (2014). Panorama social de América Latina 2014, (LC/G.2635-P). [Social Panorama of Latin America 2014, (LC/G.2635-P)]. (Technical report). CEPAL. https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a31e1273-8437-4e66-a31a-cb3c284fc16e/content (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250724064621/https://repositorio.cepal.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/a31e1273-8437-4e66-a31a-cb3c284fc16e/content)
Dávalos, P. (2005). Movimientos indígenas en América Latina: el derecho a la palabra. [Indigenous movements in Latin America: the right to speak out]. In Dávalos (Ed.), Pueblos indígenas, Estado y democracia [Indigenous peoples, state and democracy] (pp. 17-33). CLACSO. https://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/gt/20101026124338/2Davalos.pdf (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250729220535/https://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/gt/20101026124338/2Davalos.pdf)
Debo Armenta, D. A. (2021). Activismo digital indígena por la defensa del agua: Revisión de casos en Facebook. [Indigenous digital activism in defence of water: A review of cases on Facebook]. Argumentos. Estudios críticos De La Sociedad, 1(95), 109–126. https://doi.org/10.24275/uamxoc-dcsh/argumentos/202195-05
Díaz Polanco, H., & Sánchez, C. (2002). México diverso: El debate por la autonomía. [Diverse Mexico: the autonomy debate]. Siglo XXI.
Geocomunes (2025). Map of macro-farms and the Mayan train in Yucatán. https://geocomunes.org/Visualizadores/PeninsulaYucatan/ (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250720021839/http://geocomunes.org/Visualizadores/PeninsulaYucatan/)
Gómez Mont, C. (2005). Tejiendo hilos de comunicación: Los usos sociales de internet en los pueblos indígenas de México. [Weaving threads of communication: the social uses of the internet among Indigenous peoples in Mexico]. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico.
Indignación. (2024). Promoción y defensa de los derechos humanos en Yucatán. [Promotion and defence of human rights in Yucatan]. https://indignacion.org.mx (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250712234152/https://indignacion.org.mx/)
Kanan Derechos Humanos. (2024). Página web de Kanan Derechos Humanos. [Kanan Derechos Humanos website]. https://linktr.ee/kanan.ddhh
Krippendorff, K. (2018). Content analysis. An introduction to its methodology. Sage Publications.
Lakon, C. M., Godette, D. C., & Hipp, J. R. (2008). Network-based approaches for measuring social capital. In I. Kawachi, S. V. Subramanian, & D. Kim (Eds.), Social Capital and Health (pp. 63-81). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71311-3_4
Llanes, G. (2016). Apropiarse de las redes para fortalecer la palabra: Una introducción al activismo digital de lenguas indígenas en América Latina. [Appropriating Networks to Strengthen the Word: An Introduction to Indigenous Language Digital Activism in Latin America]. Research report for Rising Voices (Activismo Lenguas). (Technical report). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323226483_Apropiarse_de_las_redes_para_fortalecer_la_palabra_Una_introduccion_al_Activismo_Digital_de_Lenguas_Indigenas_en_America_Latina (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250329213932/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323226483_Apropiarse_de_las_redes_para_fortalecer_la_palabra_Una_introduccion_al_Activismo_Digital_de_Lenguas_Indigenas_en_America_Latina)
Melucci, A. (2001). Vivencia y convivencia: Teoría social para una era de la información. [Living and Living Together: Social Theory for an Information Age]. Trotta.
Mexican Centre for Environmental Law. (2024). Premio Goldman, resultado del trabajo colectivo comunitario en defensa del territorio y el ambiente sano en la región de los Chenes, Campeche. [Goldman Prize, the result of collective community work in defence of territory and a healthy environment in the Chenes region of Campeche.]. https://cemda.org.mx/premio-goldman-resultado-del-trabajo-colectivo-comunitario-en-defensa-del-territorio-y-el-ambiente-sano-en-la-region-de-los-chenes-campeche/ (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250421135329/https://cemda.org.mx/premio-goldman-resultado-del-trabajo-colectivo-comunitario-en-defensa-del-territorio-y-el-ambiente-sano-en-la-region-de-los-chenes-campeche/)
Millaleo, S., & Velasco, P. (2013). Activismo digital en Chile. [Digital activism in Chile]. Fundación Democracia y Desarrollo. https://www.fdd.cl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/activismo-digital-en-Chile.pdf (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250328192942/https://www.fdd.cl/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/activismo-digital-en-Chile.pdf)
Monasterios, G. (2003). Usos de internet por organizaciones indígenas (OI) de Abya Yala: Para una alternativa en políticas comunicacionales. [Uses of the internet by Indigenous organisations (IOs) in Abya Yala: for an alternative in communication policies]. Revista Comunicación, 122, 60-69. https://mapuche.info/wps_pdf/monasterios031100.pdf (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240702170744/http://www.mapuche.info/wps_pdf/monasterios031100.pdf)
Múuch Xíinbal. (2024). Asamblea de Defensores del Territorio Maya. [Assembly of Defenders of the Mayan Territory]. https://asambleamaya.wixsite.com/muuchxiinbal (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250616130012/https://asambleamaya.wixsite.com/muuchxiinbal)
Pacheco-Campos, J. (2022). Instagram y el activismo digital quechua en Chile. [Instagram and Quechua digital activism in Chile]. In Aguaded, I. (Eds.), Redes sociales y ciudadanía. Cibercultuas para el aprendizaje [Social networks and citizenship. Cybercultures for learning] (pp. 97-102). Grupo Comunicar. https://www.grupocomunicar.com/pdf/redes-sociales-y-ciudadania-2022.pdf (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20240225022529/https://www.grupocomunicar.com/pdf/redes-sociales-y-ciudadania-2022.pdf)
Red de Resistencia y Rebeldía Jo´. (2024). Sitio informativo de la RRRJo'. [RRRJo' information site]. https://redderesistenciayrebeldiajo.wordpress.com (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20230423041208/https://redderesistenciayrebeldiajo.wordpress.com/)
Requena Santos, F. (1989). El concepto de red social. [The concept of social networking]. Reis, 48(1), 137-152. https://doi.org/10.2307/40183465
Statista. (2024). Social networks with the highest percentage of users in Mexico in 2023. https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/1035031/mexico-porcentaje-de-usuarios-por-red-social/#:~:text=Facebook%20sigue%20siendo%20la%20red,con%20m%c3%a1s%20de%20un%2080%25 (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250709124230/https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/1035031/mexico-porcentaje-de-usuarios-por-red-social/#:~:text=Facebook%20sigue%20siendo%20la%20red,con%20m%c3%a1s%20de%20un%2080%25)
United Nations. (2018). Informe de la Relatora Especial sobre los derechos de los pueblos indígenas sobre su visita a México. [Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples on her visit to Mexico]. (Technical report). United Nations. https://hchr.org.mx/wp/wp-content/themes/hchr/images/doc_pub/2018-mexico-a-hrc-39-17-add2-sp.pdf (Archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20250625022625/https://hchr.org.mx/wp/wp-content/themes/hchr/images/doc_pub/2018-mexico-a-hrc-39-17-add2-sp.pdf)
Vandana, S. (2004). Las guerras del agua: Contaminación, privatización y negocio [Water Wars: Pollution, Privatisation and Business]. Icaria Editorial
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Julio C. Aguila Sanchez, Carmen Castillo Rocha, Rocío L. Cortés Campos

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
