Representing Marichuy Online: Digital Listening And Indigenous Voice In The Latin American Political Periphery

In 2018, Nahua healer and activist María de Jesús Patricio Martínez, Marichuy, launched a campaign to become an independent candidate for the Mexican presidency. Marichuy’s campaign is a key precedent to understand the 2024 political juncture of presidential campaigns in Mexico, resulting in the election of the country’s first female president. Although Marichuy did not gather enough signatures to have her name on the ballot, her unprecedented effort activated national efforts of Indigenous and ally activism, supported in part by social media and other forms of digital communication. We consider the online media dynamics around Marichuy’s campaign and the representation of Indigenous women, arguing that mobile and social media (such as Instagram) worked in two ways. First, they gave visibility to communities (mostly comprised of Indigenous groups) and forms of representation that already existed. Second, they built a bridge between Indigenous and non-Indigenous allies and activists, with non-Indigenous intellectuals such as writer Juan Villoro functioning as key intermediaries. We contend that, even though long-standing inequalities persist, emerging digital communication dynamics in Latin America reveal new ways in which what Enrique Dussel called “the periphery” can establish and sustain avenues for listening and voice, working towards the cultural and political emancipation of groups that have historically existed in the margins.