Santa Cruz Mixtepec: community engagement and religious heritage in Mexico

Cant, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7549-0062 (2025) Santa Cruz Mixtepec: community engagement and religious heritage in Mexico. In: Mithen, S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3391-7443, Mithen, S., Rabbani, M. A. and Rabbani, M. (eds.) Cultural Heritage, Community Engagement and Sustainable Tourism: Case Studies from Archaeological Sites in the Global South:. Routledge, pp. 195-212. ISBN 9781032792255 doi: 10.4324/9781003491071-15

Abstract/Summary

Santa Cruz Mixtepec is the location of a ruined 16th-century Dominican convent that was conserved and partially restored between 2015 and 2018. That project involved a collaboration between federal, municipal and privately funded stakeholders, with extensive community engagement. This chapter describes the history of the convent, the role it currently plays in the Santa Cruz community and its governance, placing its restoration in the potentially conflicting contexts of heritage tourism and Catholic practices in Mexico. It questions how the ‘local community’ can be adequately defined, the problematic approach to the Catholic clergy, and explores the conflicting interests of stakeholders who nevertheless collaborated in good faith and with considerable success.