Invoking the Commons
The Riviera Maya of Mexico has become the playground for the rich and famous. The shift from mass tourism toward boutique and elite tourism has spurred expansive development along this corridor. Alongside paradise, one can find poor shantytowns without running water and electricity. Skyrocketing land prices and the erosion of the commons have made it difficult for migrant workers, many of whom are indigenous and work in the tourism industry, to purchase land or housing. This article examines the case of Maya migrants living in the squatter settlement, Colonia Mario Villanueva. Squatting has long been a practice by which to gain access to land. Yet, squatters face constant threats of eviction by landowners and the state who deny them access to basic public services like running water, electricity, and paved roads. Despite these hardships and lack of public services, Maya migrants perceive their struggle for housing as rooted in communal indigenous land tenure practises and as a form of resistance to the state and global capital. This case study illustrates how the concept of the commons is invoked in an urban setting where private property is entangled with diminishing state support for communal land tenure and public services.