Educating oneself through tourism is a luxury, often an expensive one. And, attention goes where money flows, thus the tourist experience is inauthentic bc there is some sort of performance involved. It is important to note that being a tourist does not require leaving the country most Temple University students are tourists within the North Philly environment. Tourism revolves around the presence of foreign entities in private spaces. Being an Africology major allowed me to take an interesting perspective on tourism and colonialism within the Yucatán as this history parallels many African histories.
In a Utopian society people from different cultures could travel to different societies and be non-disruptive while creating mutually beneficial relationships. Unfortunately, at this point, a white American can not travel somewhere foreign to them and not interrupt typical ways of life because there is a business catering to white Americans abroad. I specifically mentioned Americans who were racially white since white tourists have completely different experiences traveling than tourists of color. Given the domination of Eurocentrism socially people with lighter skin tones are more valued thus white people are the most sought-after tourists. The film Cannibal Tours (1988) opened my eyes to how people native to a land begin to need tourism to survive in these global economies forced upon them by Western culture. Over time the people of Papua New Guinea began to shift their way of life to accommodate tourism. Additionally, María Uicab shared her family history not just through spoken word but through a performance. While her love of theatre and the arts shone through, there is always the question of whether would she tell her history this way if she was simply passing down generational knowledge to members of her community. Themes over being overpowered by the West can also be found within An Epoch of Miracles: Oral Literature of the Yucatec Maya, specifically “The Epoch of Miracles.”
Parallels between indigenous cultures and history became quite prominent throughout my time in Mérida. From cultural values to European hegemony. As a person of African descent, I truly enjoyed being able to similarities between my culture and the culture of the Yucatecan people. Based on the Yucatecan cosmology presented in Braiding Sweetgrass: People of Corn, People of Light, these similarities include the relationship with land, nature, and the strong value of community. Unfortunately but not surprisingly the Mayan people also suffered from serious oppression. While it was discussed openly in class to truly see it at the Choco Story Museum was very interesting. The most interesting thing to me is seeing Mayan people characterized as monkeys, which is such a huge part of scientific racism towards people of African descent. This entire excursion was very eerie because it was a real-life version of putting a Civil War-era slavery exhibit in Disney World. The parallels truly were endless between traditional Mayan and traditional African culture.
As much as I learned throughout this experience, I could not help but feel guilty for my role within this tourist economy. Interestingly, I feel the same tourism guilt as a Temple student in North Philadelphia. This for me raises questions of whether is tourism escapable and whether you can truly learn and begin to understand a culture without being immersed in it?
