Enclosures within Enclosures and Hurricane Reconstruction in Cancún, Mexico

Abstract

bs_bs_banner Enclosures within Enclosures and Hurricane Reconstruction in Cancun, Mexico MATILDE CORDOBA AZCARATE University of California, San Diego IDALINA BAPTISTA University of Oxford, UK FERNANDO DOMINGUEZ RUBIO University of California, San Diego Abstract This article focuses on the reconstruction processes undertaken in Cancun, Mexico after hurricanes Gilbert in 1988 and Wilma in 2005. The article argues that both hurricanes facilitated the creation of an evolving logic of “enclosures within enclo- sures,” whereby hotel and real estate investors, aided by government authorities, privatized and commoditized Cancun’s public lands and resources for the exclusive use of the global tourism market. In practice, this meant a radical spatial, aesthetic, and economic reconfiguration of the Hotel Zone in Cancun from a low-density luxury resort to a mass tourism, all-inclusive resort destination after Gilbert, followed by the emergence of the contemporary timeshare high-rise condominium model after Wilma. With each new business model, investors strategically used post-hurricane reconstruc- tion to redefine space, displace risk, and to reposition themselves and the city in global circuits of capital accumulation. The case of Cancun provides an empirically grounded example of how, in the aftermath of natural disasters, strategies of enclosure are deployed through approaches to governance, business models, and forms of architecture and surveillance all in the name of defending the public good, providing security, and enhancing economic growth. [tourism, natural disasters, reconstruction, Mexico, Cancun] Introduction A t Km 13.5 of Boulevard Kukulcan, the main access road to Hotel Zone in Cancun, lies Allotment 18, an eighteen-hectare sea-front property next to Marlin Public Beach and surrounded by the distinctive architecture of the all-inclusive resorts Live Aqua Cancun and Barcelo Tucancun Beach (see Figure 1). At the time of our fieldwork in October of 2010, Allotment 18 stood vacant, but it has not always been empty. Indeed, Allotment 18 embodies the dynamic and complex history of Cancun’s transformation from a small fishing village in 1970 to one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. The particular story of Allotment 18 is traced back to 1987, when construction of a 225-room unit for Hotel Radisson Cancun began by a consortium of investors involving the U.S.-based global hotel company Radisson Hotel City & Society, Vol. 26, Issue 1, pp. 96–119, ISSN 0893-0465, eISSN 1548-744X. © 2014 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved. DOI:10.1111/ciso.12026.