A critical biocultural perspective on tourism and the nutrition transition in the Yucatan

Abstract

Biocultural anthropology is a broad and holistic approach to the study of human biology within social and cultural contexts. A critical biocultural approach furthers these considerations by paying particular attention to how historical and political economic forces help shape social contexts and biological variation, as well as the research process itself. In this chapter we first discuss the emergence of a critical biocultural anthropology and then provide a case study of the political ecology of food and nutrition in the Yucatan following the development of the tourism industry in the 1970s and 1980s. Tourism-led economic development has had a complex biocultural impact on Mayan communities. On the one hand, tourism has brought jobs and expanded cash-generating activities, roadways, markets, and other aspects of infrastructural development necessary to broader economic growth. Yet, most jobs are low-wage and precarious, and rural communities linked to tourism are experiencing major transformations in social relations and disrupted agricultural systems, as well as dietary shifts associated with increasingly delocalized and commoditized food systems. We find increases in stature and a reduction in dental enamel hypoplasias indicating improved nutritional well-being in children, but broader patterns of growth reveal a “dual burden” of persistent stunting coupled with overweight and obesity in the same communities. Regional patterns throughout the Yucatan reflect high rates of obesity in both children and adults, as well as high rates of Type 2 diabetes, indicating a widespread nutrition transition among the Yucatec Maya.