The media do not cause indigenous people to acculturate to the dominant society, and actually help them resist acculturation.

In this paper, I will examine the question of the impact of television on the acculturation of indigenous people. Many anthropologists see television as a major causal force in the loss of indigenous culture. Through a research questionnaire, I surveyed 20 Lakota Sioux, and followed this up with unstructured interviews. They were questioned about their TV viewing habits and their interest and involvement in their own culture. I also conducted ethnographic interviews with other reservation residents on their perceptions of television. My findings suggest that TV does not play a role in acculturation of the Lakota people, and that it could even play a role in cultural preservation. This further suggests that anthropologists may need to revise some of their assumptions about technology’s effects on indigenous people.

This paper presents some of the reflections, projects and results around the topics of multiculturalism and migration attained by the Educational Technology Research Group at the University of Murcia, some of them integrated in the Interuniversity Cooperation programmes promoted by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI). We pretend to analyze how the appropriate use of ICT in educational contexts allows to maintain the cultural characteristics of a community, while helping at the same time to promote a better knowledge and acceptance of other cultures.