Practices of Resilience: Online Nahuatl Study and Nahua Cultural Initiatives in Mexico City and Los Angeles During COVID-19

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of cyber-resilience as a pathway to urban Indigenous empowerment through digital media. Building on Karina Korostelina and Jocelyn Barrett’s (2023) framework of “practices of resilience,” I extend these ideas to cyberspace, examining how Indigenous content producers in urban areas used digital platforms to navigate challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020–2023. The focus is on Mexico City and Los Angeles, designated sister cities in 1969, whose shared Spanish colonial histories and transnational migration networks are further connected by Nahuatl as a living Indigenous language. The analysis examines social media content from two organizations in Mexico City—Conformidad Ollinkan and Resistencia Tenochtitlan—and cultural initiatives in Los Angeles by the Anahuacalmecac University Preparatory for North America and Nahuatl instructor Cuitlahuac Martínez. Using qualitative methods, including multimodal content analysis (images, video, text) and interviews, this study highlights how these groups leveraged digital tools to sustain Mesoamerican memory, promote Indigenous heritage, and foster community engagement. My analysis of these materials contributes to literature on digital content production and Mesoamerican identity, emphasizing how online initiatives in urban diasporic contexts strengthen Indigenous cultural knowledge and language preservation.