For my project I plan to continue my exploration of the indigenous uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army). Last semester, I wrote a chapter of my dissertation which explores the theoretical aspects of the movement as a neo-marxist approach to the pursuit of social justice. This semester, I want to complete another chapter where I explore the use of media (mainly the internet website Enlace Zapatista, as well as several newspaper articles, videos/documentaries, and songs about the movement). I would like to explore the complexity of the incorporation of media to this revolutionary movement and whether or not it has been a more effective method of achieving social justice for the indigenous people who make up the majority of the movement.
I plan to review the content of the various letters and communiques sent to local newspapers by Subcomandante Marcos since 1994. The book titled Shadows of Tender Fury provides a list of the communiques since the public emergence of the movement, which will be a great source for the first part of my project. Secondly, I plan to explore other books, as well as the EZLN website (for which I have been a member for years) to explore the direction of the movement through the past years.
Finally, I plan to incorporate the Media Studies’ theoretical models we have been studying in this class to the analysis of the effects of the media in the development and evolution of the EZLN. Using McLuhan and the effects of technology, media and society, and media and our thought processes. McLuhan also discusses the “global village” which would be very relevant to the strategies used by the EZLN to appeal to an international audience. As well as others as our course develops.
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