Cyborgs from Central America unite! A decolonial feminist approach to Central American women's groups in cyberspace

Postcolonial studies have their origin in areas (Asia and Africa) where their history of independence from European colonial powers is relatively recent.  The Americas have a much earlier history of colonial experience, and some of its countries have been formally independent for more than two centuries.  Given that difference in background, scholarship in Latin America has been developed on the grounds of coloniality (colonialidad), a category coined by AníbalQuijano. According to Quijano (1993 y 2000), coloniality is a set of features and remains of colonial power and domination still shown by societies that once were colonies. Nonetheless, this state of affairs finds its significance through the place it has within a world-system. Most recently, through the production of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), it can be seen how this pattern is being followed.

Even though these technologies, in terms of production and culture, mark a great difference between the metropolitan areas (global North) and peripheral countries (global South), the use of such technologies is becoming very important for political resistance in Latin America. Cyberspace has become a resource of resistance for women who fight against political upheaval and inequality in Latin America. By combining the theoretical approaches of coloniality and cyberfeminism, I will discuss and analyze how women from Latin America build their own agency by creative ways of use and networking within cyberspace. I will pay special attention to two examples of Central American cyborgs, namely, the Feministas en Resistencia (Feminists in Resistance), a network of women throughout Latin America, that oppose the coup d’état in Honduras, and O.T.R.A.S. an organization of young women in engineering and computing who promote the access to free culture and software for women in Central America.