While millions of international tourists a year visit the World Heritage site of Chichén Itzá in southern Mexico and eagerly bask in its ancient wonder, few people appreciate the contemporary significance of the archaeological site. Using archival and ethnographic research, Dr. Breglia will discuss 1) how modern science and modern Maya people came to view this "ancient Maya" site, 2) the role of the heritage site in contemporary community life, and 3) the heated debates over who has the rights to benefit from the enormous incomes that such "wonders of the world" generate from international tourism.
Lisa Breglia is Senior Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Global Affairs in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at George Mason University where she has worked since 2007. Her 2006 book, Monumental Ambivalence: the Politics of Heritage (University of Texas Press), examines the struggle over national patrimony between public interests and private sector development in Maya archaeological sites across the Yucatán Peninsula. Her second book, Living with Oil (2013, UT Press), is an ethnographic investigation of the effects of Mexico's intensive offshore oil industry on Gulf coast communities. Her current long-term research focuses on the relationship between resource security and citizen security in contemporary Mexico, and her most recent project focused on experiential dimensions of climate change among Maya farmers.
