RON MADER'S UNUSUAL MEXICO LINKS
(Mexico on the Web)Journalist and savvy webmaster Ron Mader sifts through the web to find the most interesting and unusual Mexico-related websites. Ron is the webhost of the popular Planeta.com: Eco Travels in Latin America website -- http://www.planeta.com -- and has written about the internet since the early 1990s.
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SPOTLIGHT: INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
TARAHUMARA.ORG
NATIVEWEB
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS INSTITUTE
OTHER TOP CONTENDERS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CONSERVATION
The National Inter-Censual Survey estimates that there are almost 6.8 million indigenous people in Mexico, while the National Indigenous Institution (in an extrapolation from the National Survey) pushes that number up to 10 million -www.sedesol.gob.mx/perfiles/nacional/00_summary.html.
Whatever figure is used, one definite trend has been an increase in the percentage and absolute number of Mexican citizens who identify themselves as "indigenous." Demographers note that the population of indigenous peoples is no longer declining, but growing at 2.7% annually.
Last fall, this column initiated a review of websites focusing on ethnic identity and migration. This month we continue this investigation with a summary of the best online resources highlighting Mexico's indigenous population.
NATIONAL INDIGENOUS INSTITUTE
www.ini.gob.mx/
webmaster@ini.gob.mx
/5 Stars
The federal government's National Indigenous Institute (INI) has some of the best resources online; most are in Spanish, with a few in English. Among the most notable is the 1997 Profile of Indigenous Groups in Mexico prepared in collaboration with the World Bank - www.sedesol.gob.mx/perfiles/nacional/english/index.html.
The study covers the gamut of current issues as well as history, demography, migration and identity issues. It provides a number of fascinating observations, such as the statistic that 30% of the major protected areas in the country have indigenous populations living in or around them.
Another of the website's gems is an online university - www.unilini.gob.mx - that shows great potential.
This site includes virtual courses, such as one on indigenous languages which could be of great assistance to those wishing to learn Nahuatl, Tzeltal, Maya, Mixteco, Otomí or Huasteco. The only thing missing on the INI website is more up-to-date information and a better navigation bar.
NATIVEWEB
http://www.nativeweb.org/
webmaster@nativeweb.org
With over 40 hosted sites, the NativeWeb portal is the online publisher and yellow pages for resources about "indigenous cultures around the world."
This content-rich archive also features an excellent collection of links, with Mexico well-represented - www.nativeweb.org/resources.php?name=Mexico&type=2&location=324.
More than 50 listings connect to other websites, from A to Z, or from the town of Acaxochitlán to Zapatistas.
The best part of NativeWeb is that it is frequently updated. Users will find it easy to submit related sites, and the forums invite real-time participation.
TARAHUMARA.ORG
http://tarahumara.org/intro.asp
info@tarahumara.com.mx
This bilingual site boasts a beautiful design and shows great promise, though it does not appear to have been updated recently. Animated movies and helpful maps make this a fun site to visit. What remains unclear is who is responsible for the site - is it the Tarahumara (also known as the Raramuri) or the first-class train that runs through the region? On the plus side are the photo galleries and maps of the Sierra.
OTHER TOP CONTENDERS:
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND CONSERVATION
www.panda.org/resources/publications/sustainability/indigenous/proj_mex.htm
A fascinating essay prepared by the World Wildlife Fund. It would be much more helpful if the essay linked to reports or studies, such as the INI profile or its own in-house reports on conservation work with indigenous peoples.
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF LATIN AMERICA - LANIC
lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/indigenous
The University of Texas has assembled this index of online resources. A separate section covers indigenous languages.
RED DE INFORMACIÓN INDÍGENA
www.laneta.apc.org/rci/A Mexico-based, Spanish-language resource collection focusing on indigenous issues around the world.
AMERICA INDÍGENA
www.geocities.com/Athens/Atrium/9449/A collection of articles in Spanish.
This article originally appeared in Business Mexico
magazine.
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Ron Mader (ron@planeta.com) is a journalist
and author of Mexico:
Adventures in Nature.
He also hosts Planeta.com (http://www.planeta.com) which in
1999 was awarded the "Lente de Plata" award from The Tourism
Secretariat (Sectur) for best Mexico-related website.
