What is it about?
Trova music is considered one of the most important musical identities of Yucatan. There was a political movement to get rid of trova music from the stages managed by the government of Yucatan, but music patrons used the means at their disposal, including the favorable opinions of tourists, to reinstate trova music to all public stages. Locals engage in a form of politics that instead of being oppositional is a gentle prodding to get local authorities and others the worth of something; music in this case.
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Why is it important?
This is a unique way of doing politics, which I have called "the beautiful politics" in my book on Trova Music. This paper was one of the first formulations of that political process.
Perspectives
This paper looks at locals' use of tourism and tourists' opinions and behavior as a cultural resource, or at least as a resource that can help them in their (local) cultural politics. Here the region described is the state of Yucatan and in particular the city of Merida, but this is probably a process that occurs elsewhere in the world too. These types of 'positive' politics have been overlooked in most of the political anthropology literature.
Professor Gabriela Vargas-Cetina
Universidad Autonoma de Yucatan
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Chapter Four. Through The Othering Gaze: Yucatecan Trova Music And The Tourist In Yucatán, Mexico, January 2009, Brill,
DOI: 10.1163/ej.9789004176409.i-324.26.
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