Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-28-2024
Publication Title
Economic Anthropology
Volume
11
Issue
2
Pages
187-197
Publisher Name
Wiley Periodicals LLC
Abstract
In this article, we examine what local well-being means in the contexts of collaborative heritage management and national development in Mexico. Driven by the request of Lacandon Mayas (including the second author) who live in Puerto Bello Metzabok, Chiapas, Mexico, in 2018, we engaged in archeological consolidation and heritage management to promote local tourism and sustainable economic development. This collaboration raised a series of ethical and practical questions of how to engage with the Eurocentric project of development. Addressing these issues has become critical, as the Mexican president's signature infrastructure project, Tren Maya (Maya Train), is designed to promote nationwide development via increased cultural heritage tourism in Chiapas and southern Mexico. Through critical reflection on experiences with Metzabok community members, we address Eurocentrism and colonialism by enacting a Lacandon (i.e., Hach Winik) buen vivir. This form of well-being is relational and communal and creates a common good that includes more-than-humans. Via this critical perspective, we argue that a decolonial project can use the tools of development as an initial step in creating Indigenous well-being.
Recommended Citation
Hernandez, Christopher and Gomez, Armando Valenzuela. Well-being in the context of Indigenous heritage management: A Hach Winik perspective from Metzabok, Chiapas, Mexico. Economic Anthropology, 11, 2: 187-197, 2024. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Anthropology: Faculty Publications and Other Works, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12319
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s), 2024.
Comments
Author Posting © The Author(s), 2024. This article is posted here by permission of Wiley Periodicals LLC for personal use and redistribution. This article was published open access in Economic Anthropology, vol. 11, iss. 2 (June 2024), https://doi.org/10.1002/sea2.12319.