The modern metropolis has been called 'the symbol of our times',
and life in it epitomizes, for many, modernity itself. But what to
make of inherited ideas of modernity when faced with life in Mexico
City and Sao Paulo, two of the largest metropolises in the world?
Is their fractured reality, their brutal social contrasts, and the
ever-escalating violence faced by their citizens just an
intensification of what Engels described in the first in-depth
analysis of an industrial metropolis, nineteenth century
Manchester? Or have post-industrial and neo-globalized economies
given rise to new forms of urban existence in the so-called
developing world?
Life in the Megalopolis: Mexico City and Sao Paulo investigates
how such questions are explored in cultural productions from these
two Latin American megalopolises, the focus being on literature,
film popular music, and visual arts. The choice of these two cities
in Mexico and Brazil has to do with their comparable sizes - they
are the largest in Latin-America (about 20 million inhabitants in
each metropolitan area), and figure among the five largest in the
world. They are also the most globalized of all Latin American
cities. They count on the largest investment of foreign capital
(banks, offices of multinational companies, etc), and their severe
social problems have been seen as symptomatic of wider trends in
Latin America and the world. This book combines close readings of
works with a constant reference to theoretical, anthropological,
and social studies of these two cities, and builds on received
definitions of the concept megalopolis
Life in the Megalopolis is the first book to combine
urban-studies theories (particularly Lefebvre, Harvey, and de
Certeau) with Benjaminian cultural analyses, and theoretical
discussions with close-readings of recent cultural works in various
media. It is also the first book to compare Mexico City and Sao
Paulo.
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