This experience helped me realize how much gentrification and touristification is taking over across the world. After this trip, I think I will be much more in tune with the changes happening around the world and around me. Something I struggle with is seeing the history of a place while taking in its present state and contextualizing it in a larger context. Already I have seen myself grow out of that and notice connections I previously would not have.
Interestingly enough, this experience has made me realize how much I love and miss India, specifically my house and my grandmother’s house. The similarities in architecture in both the city and rural areas are astonishing. The community feel Yaxunah had was so incredibly similar to the one my grandmother’s town has, and the streets reminded me so much of her lakeside home.
I also think this study abroad humbled me, in a sense. We lived in and immersed ourselves in this area for one month. Most of the people we met and the things we did will continue progressing as they were; we will remain a part of people’s memories, but at the end of the day their lives still go on. I think this idea especially is humbling, because at least for me this is a huge opportunity and the first time I have been so far from home. One of my core memories will probably be a fragment of someone else’s, which is an interesting thought. It almost solidifies the idea that my presence does not really need to have an impact on everyone I meet; they control who and what affects them, just as we do.
If there is one thing I never want to forget, it is the idea of making sure to consider all perspectives in anything. Two examples come to mind. Haciendas have a bad history, but the people who work there today see it as a way of life, as something to find pride in. Touristification is dramatically changing community dynamics, and it is something we are seeing in real-time at Yaxunah. However, people in the community see it positively and embrace that idea to help feed their families. I hope to never forget that just about any issue is not black and white and the gray areas are just as important, if not more, to keep in mind.
