Yucatan in an Era of Globalization

Yucatán in an Era of Globalization You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. YUCATÁN IN AN ERA OF GLOBALIZATION Edited by Eric N. Baklanoff and Edward H. Moseley THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA PRESS Tuscaloosa You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Published in cooperation with the Alfredo Barrera Vásquez Center for Yucatecan Studies Copyright © 2008 The University of Alabama Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487-0380 All rights reserved Manufactured in the United States of America Typeface: Bembo ∞ The paper on which this book is printed meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences–Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Yucatán in an era of globalization / edited by Eric N. Baklanoff and Edward H. Moseley. p. cm. “Published in cooperation with the Alfredo Barrera Vásquez Center for Yucatecan Studies”—T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8173-1603-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8173-5476-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8173-8004-5 (electronic) 1. Globalization— Economic aspects— Mexico— Yucatán (State) 2. Globalization— Social aspects— Mexico— Yucatán (State) I. Baklanoff, Eric N. II. Moseley, Edward H., 1931-2005. HF1482.9.Y93Y83 2008 303.48′27265—dc22 2007032101 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Contents List of Illustrations vii Preface ix Introduction: Yucatán since the 1982 Mexican Debt Crisis Eric N. Baklanoff 1 1. Yucatán’s Prelude to Globalization Edward H. Moseley and Helen Delpar 20 2. Globalization and the Evolving Port Landscape of Progreso Michael S. Yoder 42 3. A Wheel of Fortune: Yucatán’s Entrepreneurial Elite from the Revolution to Globalization Luis Alfonso Ramírez 69 4. Yucatán: Mexico’s Other Maquiladora Frontier Eric N. Baklanoff 92 5. Tinum, Yucatán: A Maya Village and the Lights of Cancún Paula R. Heusinkveld 112 6. Chan Kom Tourism and Migration in the Making of the New Maya Milpas Alicia Re Cruz 134 7. From Tallapoosa to Tixkokob: Two Communities Share Globalization Edward H. Moseley 147 8. Embracing Community: An Alternative Tourism for Yucatán Kathleen R. Martín and William A. Martín González 164 Contributors 185 Index 189 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Illustrations Figures 1. Peninsula of Yucatán x 2. The late Dr. Alfredo Barrera Vásquez xiv 3. The late Edward H. Moseley and Eduardo Tello Solis xv 4. Hacienda Yaxcopoil, a henequen defi bration plant 3 5. Hacienda Yaxcopoil, entrance to owner’s mansion 4 6. Cathedral on Plaza Mayor, Mérida 5 7. Streetscape, central Mérida 6 8. The Observatory at Chichén Itzá 11 9. Hotel Fiesta Americana, Mérida 14 10. Port of Progreso pier 54 11. Cranes at the expanded port of Progreso 55 12. General cargo platform, port of Progreso 60 13. Yucatán Industrial Park, Mérida 100 14. Maquiladora Industrias Oxford de Mérida 105 15. Friends and neighbors cooperate in the construction of a nah 115 16. Maya girls sharing a hammock 117 17. Traditional Maya kitchen 124 18. Friends pose in front of store fi nanced by Cancún earnings 127 19. Meeting room at the JERZEES plant 157 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. viii / Illustrations 20. Alabama group viewing the Pyramid of the Sorcerer at Uxmal 165 21. Entrance to the Quadrangle of the Nuns at Uxmal 173 Tables 1. Yucatán: Diversifi cation in the agricultural- livestock sector, 1980 and 2000 9 2. Yucatán: Economically active population by sector, 1990 and 2000 10 3. Yucatán, Quintana Roo, and Mexico: Distribution of GDP by economic sector, 2000 12 4. Yucatecan henequen production, selected years, 1901–1982 53 5. Major imports, state of Yucatán, 1990–2000 58 6. Major exports, state of Yucatán, 1990–2000 58 7. Grain imports, port of Progreso, 1989–2003 59 8. Aggregate cargo movement, port of Progreso, 1996–2000 59 9. Container traffi c, port of Progreso, 1989–2003 61 10. Yucatán’s maquiladora industry: Number of plants, employment, and value added, January 2000–May 2005 102 11. Yucatán: Number of maquiladoras and employees by municipio, June 2004 104 12. Yucatán: Volume and value of exports via maritime and air transport, July 1999–June 2000 107 You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. Preface Irving L. Webber sat in the central plaza of Mérida in late May 1975, hav- ing his three- quarter- length boots polished and refl ecting on the social struc- ture of the provincial capital and its surrounding communities. “You know,” he mused, “Yucatán is one of the least- developed regions of Mexico, and lacks many characteristics necessary for a modern society.” Pausing to relight his pipe for the third time, Webber concluded: “That’s the reason I like it so much.”1 This conversation— and many others like it— grew out of an interdisciplinary fi eld course, “Yucatán Past and Present,” initiated in 1973 by the Latin American Studies Program of The University of Alabama. Between 1975 and 1980 the core faculty of that project and a widening circle of Yucatecolo- gists collaborated to publish an interdisciplinary collection of essays entitled Yucatán: A World Apart. Archaeologists, geographers, social scientists, and hu- manists discussed long- range perspectives and unfolding events that contrib- uted to an interpretative analysis of a relatively isolated social laboratory at a frozen moment in time. Aware that the peninsula had never been completely removed from broader Mexican and world affairs, the authors nevertheless contended that Yucatán was a unique and “separate” society, even after 1961 when it was linked by highway to the “mainland” of central Mexico.2 In the two and a half decades following the interdisciplinary publication, however, Yucatán has undergone far- reaching changes, many tied to advances in tech- nology and international political shifts, but all linked to the evolving era of globalization. The present volume is addressed primarily to those cutting- edge changes. Yucatán: A Land of Traditions Mérida in 1975 was a bustling city of approximately 300,000 inhabitants, boasting some of the services and features of a modern urban center but suf- fering from a stagnant monocrop economy, propped up by subsidies from the Mexican government.3 Yucatán as a whole, including its capital, was defi ned You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. For permission to reuse this work, contact the University of Alabama Press. x / Preface Fig. 1. Yucatán Peninsula (map by Eugene Wilson). by most observers at the time as a “traditional society,” one made up of a com- plex and often confl icting set of traditions. Small towns and villages in the eastern and southern sections of the peninsula displayed a remarkably uni- form folk culture based on diet (corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers), dis- tinctive dress for women (the huipil), family compounds (solares), and slash- and- burn agriculture plots (milpas). The population was linked by a common language (Yucatec Maya) and a set of beliefs and ceremonies rooted in pre- conquest mythology and legends.4 Yet the most ardent admirer of ancient in- fl uences admitted that no “purely Maya” culture existed in Yucatán. A new set of institutions, patterns, and symbols (European and Catholic) entered You are reading copyrighted material published by the University of Alabama Press. Any posting, copying, or distributing of this work beyond fair use as defined under U.S. Copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher.

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