Rooting in a Useless Land

Ancient Farmers, Celebrity Chefs, and Environmental Justice in Yucatan

• Author(s): Chelsea Fisher,
• Publisher: Univ of California Press
• Pages: 280
• ISBN_10: 0520395883
  ISBN_13: 9780520395886
  
• Language: en
• Categories: Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social , Social Science / Anthropology / General , Social Science / Archaeology , Nature / Environmental Conservation & Protection , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Caribbean & Latin American Studies , Social Science / Indigenous Studies ,

Description:... In Rooting in a Useless Land, Chelsea Fisher examines the deep histories of environmental-justice conflicts in Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. She draws on her innovative archaeological research in Yaxunah, an Indigenous Maya farming community dealing with land dispossession, but with a surprising twist: Yaxunah happens to be entangled with prestigious sustainable-development projects initiated by some of the most famous chefs in the world. Fisher contends that these sustainable-development initiatives inadvertently bolster the useless-land narrative—a colonial belief that Maya forests are empty wastelands—which has been driving Indigenous land dispossession and environmental injustice for centuries. Rooting in a Useless Land explores how archaeology, practiced within communities, can restore history and strengthen relationships built on contested ground.