Conservation encounters: transculturation in the ‘contact zones’ of empire

In the last 20 years, Latin American countries have experienced a boom inconservation territories. At the same time, neoliberal restructuring of LatinAmerican economies has devolved funding and management responsibilities tointernational NGOs. In this context, conservation projects have become importantzones of encounter and contact, wherein those inhabiting protected areas arenecessarily subject to and subjected by the discourses and practices of conservationinstitutions. How do local actors engage with these processes? This paper examinesthe cultural politics of conservation encounters in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, aprotected area in Guatemala's northern department of Petén.Drawing upon the concept of transculturation and anti–essentialistframings of subject formation as performative, I outline how differently situatedsocial groups in the reserve negotiate, contest and enact the daily discourses andpractices of conservation as articulated by powerful US based international organizations