Stuck With Tourism: Space, Power, and Labor in Contemporary Yucatan

by Matilde Córdoba Azcárate

Tourism has become one of the most powerful forces organizing the predatory geographies of late capitalism. It creates entangled futures of exploitation and dependence, extracting resources and labor, and eclipsing other ways of doing, living, and imagining life. And yet, tourism also creates jobs, encourages infrastructure development, and in many places inspires the only possibility of hope and well-being. Stuck with Tourism explores the ambivalent nature of tourism by drawing on ethnographic evidence from the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, a region voraciously transformed by tourism development over the past forty years. Contrasting labor and lived experiences at the beach resorts of Cancún, protected natural enclaves along the Gulf coast, historical buildings of the colonial past, and maquilas for souvenir production in the Maya heartland, this book explores the moral, political, ecological, and everyday dilemmas that emerge when, as Yucatán’s inhabitants put it, people get stuck in tourism’s grip.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction

297 pages, Paperback

Published October 20, 2020

Reviews

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent analysis of the effect tourism has had on the region, from the manufactured beaches of Cancun, to the overregulated ecotourism in Celestun, to the luxury & doctored indigeneity of Temezon Sur, and finally the backend manufacturing that occurs in Tekit. The author showcases how while tourism has had positive effects in the form of economic growth and allowing for the inhabitants of the Yucatan to remain near their families & homeland (as opposed to migrating), there exists a complex interface of dependencies and contradictions that exists in relationship to the tourism, such as disrupted traditions, the overreaching laws enacted by the state, severe environmental concerns, and even devastating health effects for the workers that are unavoidable in the few lines of work made available.

Highly recommended for anyone interested in studying the effects of tourism, ecotourism, colonial tourism, and manufacturing for tourism.

[Parker Vu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved it! It gave me chills, literally, because the power setting that Azcarate have linked between Brazil and Yucatan & Cancun, I would say also, is a foreshadowing mirror being held to also others' practice; nation states relationship with their 'tourism' sites. In my particular case, it was the island of Phu Quoc in Vietnam - where when I heard stories about the local's life, it was eerily similar to the inhabitants in Azcarate's anecdotes, where their life are also transformed from a self-sustained agriculture workpath to dependent on conglomerate's extractions' - resorts, 'ecological' wildlife park and more.

Nonetheless, I gave it a four though because it read more of a PhD dissertation than anything else (with in-text citations dotted around the page and scholar language), which isn't a bad way to prove the ideas to be academically rigorous and sound, but sometimes make it more dry than it needs to be for a paperback book.

[Gabby R · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book was great at providing rich ethnographic narratives and accounts of tourism over time in a particular place (Yucatán Peninsula). Although, I found the analysis could have been more in depth and creative. Sticky tourism geographies is a great way to package a concept and phenomenon that isn’t something “new” or thought provoking. I would recommend as an introduction to tourism in anthropology and as a text for undergraduate courses.

[Eldisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for my class. I really enjoyed how it was readable (I’m a junior in college, and this was one of the only books I enjoyed this semester). Her research is refreshing! It tackles complicated experiences and really made me take a step back and look at tourism differently.

I would 100% recommend this book to anyone, especially with the current state of the world.