Thinking through tourism in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas: Transnationalism as a methodology

Abstract

“He isn’t going to win, is he?” the musician asked the crowd in the Italian-style cantina, located in the tourist center of San Cristóbal de las Casas, a colonial city in the highlands of Chiapas. The musician, a British expat who had also spent time in Canada, played every Tuesday night – this particular Tuesday night happened to be the 2016 US Presidential election. As a couple of us despondently confirmed that Donald Trump might win, the musician responded, “Well, it doesn’t matter ... nothing will fuckin’ change.” I was in San Cristóbal conducting fieldwork. I had met with some contacts: an Anthropology professor at a local university, a Czech national visiting to learn Spanish, and a Dutch national, who came to tour Mexico. The cantina, owned by two Italian expats and staffed with people from Chiapas and other Mexican states, is a popular destination for “locals” and “visitors” alike–one of many establishments that make San Cristóbal a transnational tourist space. This report outlines my research on tourism in San Cristóbal through the lens of transnationalism: I discuss transnational spaces, explore processes of transnationalism and tourism in Chiapas, and lastly map out how transnationalism as a methodology helps me conceptualize my fieldwork site.