The WSU Humanities Center invites faculty, students, staff, and the community to a Brown Bag talk given by Carlos Hernandez (Assistant Professor, Philosphy) on the topic of "A Prologue to Paradise: The Mayab, Quintana Roo, and Isla Cancun". Please note: This event will be a discussion of a pre-circulated paper. To receive the paper beforehand, please RSVP.

Abstract:  The following paper is Chapter 1 of my book manuscript, Paradise Lost: Beach Tourism, the Mexican State, and the Making of Cancún. Drawing on both archival materials and oral histories, the project argues that sites like Cancún enabled countries like Mexico to engage in large-scale forms of privatization after decades of state-led development. This opening chapter sets the stage for that analysis by reexamining the Yucatán Peninsula’s twentieth century in light of recent approaches to settler colonialism. As the title suggests, I argue that the Mayab — the region’s ancestral name in Yucatec Mayan — served as a prologue to contemporary Cancún.

This event will be in-person (FAB 2339) and streamed. RSVP for the zoom link.