| This dissertation examines the establishment of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve and its role in constructing southeast Campeche, Mexico as a distinct region. Through an elaboration of the concept of political ecology, the thesis discusses the politicization of land use in respect to village social organization, household income, migration patterns, identity, and cultural constructions of the environment. The thesis finds unexpected effects of international conservation in restructuring government-farmer relations and in the appropriation by farmers of environmentalist ideas in order to promote broader questions of political participation and access to resources. |
