Digital snails?: Shuar women and mobile communication in Ecuador

Abstract

This chapter provides a feminist approach to gender power relations at the intersection of indigenous communities and digital, mobile technologies. It analyses the data gathered for a project — entitled ‘Ontologia movil y tecno-ciudadania nomade. The chapter focuses on the information concerning Shuar women because they are a ‘triply marked’ group due to their sex-gender, ethnicity, and age. The structured questionnaire was written in Spanish and was divided into eight sections: personal data, family data, access to phone technologies, uses, advantages, socialization, media use, and technocitizenship. Role and gender-linked space distribution has long been clearly established in the Shuar world. Changes in the public roles of women are occurring gradually, as women make inroads into leadership positions and access formal schooling. The chapter describes the relation between mobile technologies and Shuar indigenous women, paying special attention to the digital gaps