Questioning Cities

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 S?#o 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 S?#o 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 arethe 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 S?#o Paulo.