Rooting in a Useless Land: Ancient Farmers, Celebrity Chefs, and Environmental Justice in Yucatan

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.


Author: Chelsea Fisher
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 10/03/2023
Pages: 280
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.84lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 1.30d
ISBN13: 9780520395879
ISBN10: 0520395875
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology | Cultural & Social
- Social Science | Archaeology
- Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection | General