Radio, library, and storytelling: Building an information system for indigenous community development in Chiapas, Mexico

The Tseltal Maya are an indigenous people living in the highlands of Chiapas, Mexico, with about 500,000 speakers of the Tseltal language. The encroachment of the dominant Mestizo culture and Spanish language is accelerating as access to the Internet increases, threatening the loss of Tseltal language and cultural heritage. We collaborate with local partners to create the first Tseltal indigenous information system, which includes a community library, a community radio station, and storytelling to document lived experiences and development impacts. The information system is anchored to Tseltal indigenous notions of well‐being or Lekil Cuxlejalil, which conceptualizes living well as living in harmony with self, family, community, environment, and spirit. Building a holistic Tseltal information system requires engaging local stakeholders and indigenous leaders to identify ways to organize, disseminate, generate, and conserve information to achieve broader goals of strengthening and preserving Tseltal language, culture, and identity, while promoting endogenous development based on culturally appropriate notions of well‐being, in harmony with self, family, community, environment, and spirit.