Triply marked: Communicative disconnections in the southern Ecuadorian Amazon [Triplemente marcadas: desconexiones comunicativas en la Amazonía sur ecuatoriana]

Abstract

In the XXI century, the mobile age, it is worth revisiting the thesis of exclusive isolation in remote areas, or particularly difficult access enunciated in the MacBride Report in the eighties. The objective is to provide a snapshot of disconnections and inequalities suffered in a technologically remote context: the southern Ecuadorian Amazon. To carry out this study we chose a quantitative methodology. Considering the variables of gender, ethnicity (indigenous communities-shuar and Kichwa-Saraguro-and non-indigenous) and age, we did an analysis of the penetration of mobile technology (from the gap in the ownership of devices, access through loan and coverage), from cultural consumption of mass media (TV, radio, newspapers and magazines) to Internet. The results point not only to a summative discrimination but also to a clear interaction or multiplicative effect between the study variables (gender, ethnicity and generation).