Heritage That Gives Back: Community Development and Heritage Preservation in Tihosuco, Mexico

Summary

The Heritage Preservation and Community Development Project in Tihosuco, Quintana Roo is a community based anthropological program that seeks to combat the visible economic and social inequality in the region. Such inequalities exist both between the tourists and laborers as well as between the larger economic centers and peripheral indigenous communities. While the project seeks to bridge some gaps by creating jobs and a small-scale tourism market, we also explore ways to have an impact upon the social disparity and to empower the community with a strong voice that reinforces their claim on the history of the Caste War as a central part of their heritage.

This paper attempts to move the discussion surrounding the preservation of heritage out from the margins of the discourse on economic and social development. Generating strategies for the protection and management of cultural assets, both tangible and intangible, can lead to sustainable models of development for communities like Tihosuco.

This project moves away from the seasonal labor model of archaeological fieldwork and economic growth. By shifting out of that structure, we work with Tihosuco to create a project with long-term benefits to the community and region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)   •
• Combating Inequality: Archaeology and the Production of Capital in the 21st Century

Keywords

Spatial Coverage