Ecological Degradation, Global Tourism, and Inequality: Maya Interpretations of the Changing Environment in Quintana Roo, Mexico

Abstract

This essay, focusing on the perspective of indigenous Mayas, documents and describes the process of ecological degradation and the rise of the tourist industry in Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Using a combination of ethnographic, secondary, and archival sources, the author challenges widespread assumptions regarding global tourism and explains how local and global forces shaped Tulum's culture and political economy. Although Mayas ambiguously interpret recent social and environmental changes, she shows that they do not critique the process of globalization in and of itself, but rather critique inequality, their loss of cultural autonomy, and their subordinate position within contemporary global cultures and economies. Scholars and planners must begin to consider Maya interpretations of their changing environment to alleviate the area's severe social and ethnic stratification.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 39 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.