ABSTRACT
A commonality present in the already discussed instances of ecotourism on the Yucatan Peninsula is that living things, that is life forms, are continually qualified by their relative value as a commodity when they become enclosed or expropriated by ecotourism. Primitive accumulation occurs in this process where a laborer works beyond that point at which he has earned enough to provide her/his basic needs, thus accruing surplus value for the capitalist. This chapter assists a Maya community in Benito Juarez outside of Cancun in reintroducing the traditional melipona honey bee to the area. The idealized presentations of Maya life mask a history of systematic dispossession through enclosure and the violence of uneven development. Alltournative signs exclusive usage contracts with Maya villages in order to maintain the right to take tourist groups to experience authentic and traditional Maya life and the exclusive right to use their natural and cultural resources in a tourism-based economy.
