Description
The ‘Mayan Train’ in southern Mexico is not just a train, and certainly not a Mayan one. Rather, the striking name of the government's flagship project is the most prominent expression of a discourse war: presented as a tourism project connecting archaeological sites and Caribbean resorts, bringing prosperity to the local population, the train turns out to be part of a ‘territorial reorganisation’ of global significance. Connected to the ‘interoceanic corridor’ and accompanied by the construction of harbours, airports, industrial parks, and urban zones managed by the military and implemented by transnational corporations, the ‘train’ must be understood as the latest step in the colonisation of a historically resistant region. In four parts, tourism will be presented as a discursive and material weapon in the war for (self-) governance, (im-)mobility and (in)security in the region. From ‘mangrove’ Sisal to ‘military camp’ Xpujil, from ‘ocean-door’ Felipe Carillo Puerto to the ‘pyramid hotel’ in Cancún.
