This study analyzes the role of networked communication for social mobilization in marginalized populations. Although the potential of the new technologies to build networks and mobilize power has been shown in empirical research (e.g., Castells, 2007; Juris, 2008), the empowerment of citizens to use these networked communications effectively cannot be taken for granted. Marginalization conditions, such as poverty, sociopolitical exclusion, and limited access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) may affect people's capability to successfully use networked communication to voice their demands. Using a combination of qualitative methodologies, this research develops a case study of the Mayan movement against mining and natural resources exploitation in Guatemala to examine under which conditions excluded populations, such as rural indigenous communities, use networked communication to mobilize power. Specifically, ethnographic research was conducted from November 2011 to December 2012 in Mayan communities in the Western highlands, where the movement has mainly developed. Results show that Mayan communities in Guatemala have implemented networked communication using self-tailored, integrated communication toolboxes containing a combination of interpersonal, traditional, and digital media that respond to their goals and cultural values. Networked communication has proved crucial to the development of strategies in two ways: a) internal strategies, empowering communities despite their marginalization through strategic outputs, such as resource sharing, citizen journalism, and collective action coordination; and b) external strategies, articulating support with allies at a local, national and international level to gather external resources, exert more pressure to influence elites' decisions, and to get protection against political persecution. Networked communication was found to be successful in furthering mobilization goals within the movement, but limited in influencing decision making outside the movement. On one hand, networked communication showed empowers marginalized communities, reinforcing key mobilization aspects, such as group cohesion, collective efficacy, and social capital. Moreover, networks are used as a strategy of pressure and self-protection, aiming to gain support internationally to exert more pressure and get protection nationally. On the other hand, repressive measures used by political elites in Guatemala limit the opportunities of the Mayan communities to further their mobilization goals. Ineffective dialogue and political persecution against indigenous leaders dull the potential of the Mayan movement to influence corporate and political decision-making, resulting in increasing social conflict, violence, and even deaths, consequentially harming the already fledging Guatemalan democracy. This investigation concludes proposing a "decalogue of empowering networked communication" for mobilization in marginalized communities based on the Mayan case that may be applied in populations under similar conditions in other sites of the world (i.e., emergent democracies, developing countries, multicultural societies).
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