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Tourism, consumption, migration, and the Maya in Cancun
| "A Return to Servitude should be read widely and carefully by students, teachers and activists throughout disciplines, as it reveals an inspiring story of indigenous peoples struggling to combat marginalization in an increasingly globalized and capitalist economy.
" — Indigenous Peoples Issues & Resources
"M. Bianet Castellanos introduces us to Mayas serving in the tourist meccas of the Yucatan where their ancestors built the temples and pyramids that draw people from all over the world. As they refashion their lives in the playgrounds of transnational tourists she reveals how they are acquiring new notions of personhood and gender, leaving behind the old markers of dress and language as they negotiate and sometimes resist neoliberal premises."— June Nash, Emeritus Faculty, The CUNY Graduate Center
"Weaving Avery Gordon’s notion of haunting with theories of transnationalism and modernity, M. Bianet Castellanos argues that the cultural and material shifts that accompany Maya migration for work in Cancún’s tourism industry enable negotiation, accommodation, and even resistance to Mexico’s neoliberal reforms. A Return to Servitude dismantles romantic representations of tourism and illustrates vividly how the Maya struggle to survive.
"— Patricia Zavella, UC-Santa Cruz |
As a free trade zone and Latin America's most popular destination, Cancun, Mexico, is more than just a tourist town. It is not only actively involved in the production of
transnational capital but also forms an integral part of the state's modernization plan for rural, Indigenous communities. Indeed, Maya migrants make up more than a third of the city's
population.
A Return to Servitude is an ethnography of Maya migration within Mexico that analyzes the foundational role Indigenous peoples play in the development of the modern
nation-state. Focusing on tourism in the Yucatan Peninsula, M. Bianet Castellanos examines how Cancun came to be equated with modernity, how this city has shaped the political economy
of the peninsula, and how Indigenous communities engage with this vision of contemporary life. More broadly, she demonstrates how Indigenous communities experience, resist, and
accommodate themselves to transnational capitalism.
Tourism and the social stratification that results from migration have created conflict among the Maya. At the same time, this work asserts, it is through engagement with modernity
and its resources that they are able to maintain their sense of indigeneity and community.
M. Bianet Castellanos is assistant professor of American studies at the University of Minnesota.
First Peoples books are part of a special publishing initiative among four scholarly presses, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation. Books with the logo exemplify contemporary scholarship and research in Indigenous studies. The initiative supports this scholarship with unprecedented attention to the growing dialogue among scholars, communities, and publishers.
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May 29th - June 1st, 2013  The conference theme, "Towards a New Social Contract?," will explore inequality in Latin America. In the first decade of the 21st century, income inequality has gone down in a substantial number of Latin American countries. This is the first time that inequality has declined on such a broad scale since we have had reasonably reliable data on income distribution. Beginning in the 1990s educational reforms have expanded the percentage of the population with secondary and tertiary education. The governments of the left that came to power after 2000 implemented a number of other reforms to improve life chances for the underprivileged, such as increases in the minimum wage, social assistance programs, and health care coverage. Are these trends likely to continue, or are they conjunctural and easily subject to reversal once economic growth rates decline? Learn More
June 13th - June 15th, 2013 The NAISA Council invites scholars working in Native American and
Indigenous Studies to submit proposals for: Individual papers, panel sessions, roundtables, or film screenings. All persons working in Native American and Indigenous Studies are invited and encouraged to apply. Proposals are welcome from faculty and students in colleges, universities, and tribal colleges; from community-based scholars and elders; and from professionals working in the field. Learn More
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