Panel: Regenerative Infrastructures: Indigenous technological autonomy and community networks in Mexico.
In a global digital ecosystem dominated by data extraction, Indigenous communities in Mexico demonstrate that technological infrastructures are constantly disputed based on community and “communal” values, where communal reflects “the way of living and thinking” of the Indigenous peoples, or the comunalidad (Martínez Luna, 2015, p. 44). In line with the theme “Regeneración(es)” of AoIR 2026, this round table analyzes “technological autonomy” as a communal praxis in order to inspire concrete regenerative practices within the scope of communications. Instead of resisting digital hegemony, these initiatives actively design present and future reimagining technologies to support the communal life of indigenous communities.
At this roundtable, we will debate the origins, learnings, and risks that face four pioneering community projects. Nicacia Lino will tell us about Wiki Katat, a Náhuatl cellular network that illustrates an alternative to telecommunications governance through a Virtual Mobile Operator (OMV) cooperative. Jaime Armando Palma Aguirre will share the experience of Red Kwechi, the first Rarámuri internet network in its territory, built with community management and private low orbit satellite services. Yunuen Torres will address the P’urhépecha fight in defense of the territory of Cherán through popular community communication, including an intranet managed by women. Finally, Melquiades (Kiado) Cruz will present the “Indigital” initiative, launching dialogue on intercultural and Zapoteco perspectives from Oaxaca. The moderator will be Fernanda Rosa, an STS professor and founder of the Abya Yala Pluriversity, who has worked with these communities to redesign digital infrastructures with participatory design and code ethnography.
We agree that “Moving beyond the flaws of past imaginaries is necessary in order to… build radical infrastructures.” (Paris, Cath, West, 2024, p. 6387). We invite the AoIR community to think of “Regeneration” with Indigenous values, and to rethink internet networks as relational technologies in the service of resilience, linguistic preservation and self-determination.