‘Yo soy la única burra’ [I’m the only dumb one]. Not Anymore. An Intersectional Approach to Digital Inclusion

Abstract

This paper applies intersectionality theory to analyze the challenges and successes of vulnerable communities in developing techno-capital—a form of cultural capital that influences individuals’ technology adoption and usage. Through ethnographic methods, such as participant observations and interviews among a group of working-class US Latinas in central Texas, this work aims to explore why digital inclusion programs should go beyond the first and second levels of the digital divide. Our findings show that this group of women faced unique barriers to digital inclusion, such as skills, time, perceived self-exclusion, and self-doubt. Even when Internet access, devices, and knowledge existed in their homes, they felt they lacked the abilities to access them, thus reflecting complex gendered family dynamics. A two-year ethnography with a non-profit serving the youth and parents of their neighborhood revealed that even this organization had trouble recognizing multiple, interconnected issues arising from gender, household roles, and age on top of the other categories of issues faced by working-class Latino immigrants in a large urban enclave. However, intersectional analysis by the lead author, when working for the non-profit, enabled her to better see and make decisions to serve these women’s needs for digital inclusion and parent education.