Presentation:

Oaxaca’s spectacular Pacific coast, known as La Costa, provides a fascinating tropical sweep of wetlands, beaches and plains framed by the mountains of the Sierra Sur. This talk will cover the region’s history including the development of the major tourist destinations Puerto Escondido and Huatulco, the coast’s sea turtles, little-known local groups such as Afro-Mexicans and Chatinos, and the annual religious pilgrimage of Juquila in December.

Presenter:

David Barton Bray is Professor Emeritus of Earth and the Environment at Florida International University in Miami. His research has focused on community forest management in Mexico (Community Forest Enterprises of Mexico: Success on the Commons and the Seeds of a Good Anthropocene, University of Arizona Press 2020), He is currently working on a book encompassing all of Oaxaca’s eight regions. As well

as his extensive academic publications, David has written for the New York Times and the Miami Herald.