A Picture of Central American Mobilities: A Case Study of Refugees in Towns
Format
Introduction
Portrayed as the land of the barbarians and “where culture goes to die” by the notable intellectual Jose Vasconcelos, Monterrey, Nuevo León has a reputation of being a hard-working, nononsense, and sometimes harsh place. Even before the upsurge of violence during President Felipe Calderon’s national deployment of military troops to combat drug trade organizations in 2010–2011, the large metropolitan area (housing 4,689,601 inhabitants) was riddled with the machismo and melancholy of its once grand past as Mexico’s foremost industrial hub. Maps of the city showing the names of the streets and neighborhoods are proof that the 1950s steel, glass, and cement industries shaped the development and daily lives of the regiomontanos/as.The legacy of this history is that today, regiomontanos/as continue to focus on the male boss/worker/provider as the central character of the city.