W. Warner Wood, Anthropology, UW-Milwaukee
“‘We are not Conservationists:’ Emergent Subjectivities, Ecotourism, and Mangrove Conservation Efforts in Oaxaca, Mexico”

Wednesday, February 5, 2014 3:30pm
Bolton Hall B60

After the mangrove in and around which they live was devastated by a hurricane in 1997, members of the community of La Ventanilla, Oaxaca began an ongoing series of ecological management projects to reestablish a healthy and diverse local environment. Their work has focused on two core activities: 1) reforestation of the mangrove, and 2) the development of sustainable livelihoods with an emphasis on providing eco-tourism services. This paper examines the emergent subjectivities of La Ventanilla community members in relation to a more recent undertaking of theirs—the creation of a community museum focused on their mangrove reforestation and sustainable livelihoods projects. J.K. Gibson-Graham’s focus on strategies to enact a politics of becoming that nurtures more diverse “postcapitalist” community economies will be taken up through the lens of what has been described as a “new museology” — the practices and strategies employed by those who work with communities to develop museums on the community’s terms.

Presented by the Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Program. This event is co-sponsored by the UWM Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, Center for International Education, Department of Anthropology, and Museum Studies Certificate Program.