Stuck with tourism: space, power and labor in contemporary Yucatán

Abstract

evolution of the modern tourism industry is marked by technological breakthroughs that accelerates travel timeframes worldwide. A closer look reveals that the industry causes social maladies ranging from asymmetric inter-class labor relations to real estate speculation, as well as acculturation processes, which show little signs of abating. In her new book titled Stuck with Tourism , Matilde Cordoba-Azcárate explores the inequalities, social problems and inter-class con fl icts that mass tourism generates in Cancún, Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Consisting of four chapters, it is derived from her ethnographic research conducted in Yucatán from 2002 to 2016, where she had the opportunity to witness dramatic shifts in the destination. She argues that, while tourism a ff ects traditional social relations, it somehow ignites new hopes and spaces of social uplifting for locals who have been historically displaced from the formal economy