  Arguably shaped by political economy perspectives from the Global North,
ICT4D aims to reduce socioeconomic disparities across countries and regions
through ICT implementations, as well as to open up opportunities for
empowerment and human development. Despite these aims, ICT4D has been
criticized because 1) although ICT and internet have positive effects on
societies across the Global North, their positive impact on people's lives in
the Global South cannot be easily proved; 2) ICT4D's primary focus seems to be
on ICT's series of artefacts rather than on ICT's positive transformative
potential of living conditions in the world; 3) the type of development ICT4D
aims for could mask global hegemonic interests and seek neoliberal
restructuring within less socioeconomically favoured communities within the
Global South. For these reasons, claim scholars, ICT4D should be revised. By
presenting ICT appropriations among Wixarika peoples in Mexico to protect their
sacred land, this paper aims to 1) shed a light on the need for postcolonial
critical frameworks on what 'development' associated with ICT should be and 2)
to foster discussions on whether ICT can enable alternative voices from the
Global South to be heard, despite tensions between traditional views and
contemporary technologies.
