Land conflicts over cultural and natural heritage in southern Mexico and the Caribean region.

Abstract

This dissertation presents the analysis of three specific land conflicts that impact heritage in Southern Mexico and the Insular Caribbean through the construction of a unit of análisis named “Conflict Landscape” and a specific methodology for its representation called “Conflict Maps”. The study of these cases is approached through two possible reading filters, or narratives, Peace and Conflict studies and Decolonization. To accomplish this objective, the research was conducted for the study of specific land conflicts from a heritage and conflicto perspective .From a methodological perspective, a conflict landscape is a hybrid between a stakeholders’ map that takes place in peace studies and conflict management and a focused ethnographic description. The four elements to consider in these landscapes are: identity, common history, relationship, and geographical representation. Also, to organize and represent data input, conflict maps take advantage of variables such as groups’ identity, land attachment, discourses for conflict, groups’ relationships with heritage, and power. The three case studies selected show these aspects in different degrees: a) Samana Bay (Dominican Republic) heritage conservation context is proper to observe actors’ agencies in conflict from the perspective of peace and conflict studies. b) Displaced mining in Adjuntas (Puerto Rico) is a case that can be studied at all conflict stages and that it is possible to explain through the proposed decolonization reading filter. This is the story of a conflict that started from the outside. c) Wind energy development in Tehuantepec Isthmus (Mexico) shows a conflict in which land tenure and heritage management is uneven because of both a colonial past legacy in which certain elites set the rules, and unaddressed problems that activate conflicts at the first likely opportunity. It is a context of permanent potential conflict. Therefore, the conflict map is narrated here through both reading filters, a peace and conflict studies perspective plus some elements of decolonization.