Contradictory Modernities: Social Housing, Finance, and the Emergence of New Urban Subjectivities in Mexico City’s Metropolitan Area

This dissertation examines the recent social, material, and urban transformations that have occurred in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area as a result of the financialization of social housing. I argue that the policies enacted by the Mexican state as they relate to the financing, planning, and construction of social housing in Mexico City have led to several ruptures as well as continuities in the way the city is produced that cut across the twentieth century and into the new millennium. Moreover, I contend that these ruptures and continuities have given way to emergent urban modernities among the residents of social housing estates—with specific imaginaries and modes of constituting the city and the self that this dissertation examines./nThe dissertation consists of a historical analysis that explains how the financialization of social housing progressed throughout the twentieth century, and an ethnographic account of how residents are cobbling together modern urban subjectivities in today’s metropolitan area. Historically, I highlight how, in contrast to the standard research account, the financialization of social housing involved a more gradual process related to how the Mexican state framed and tackled the problem of the lack of adequate housing for urban workers. I argue that in order to understand how the financialization of social housing occurred in the Mexican context, it is necessary to rethink the established periodization of the process itself. I do this by examining how the post-revolutionary governments after the 1940s articulated a project of urban renewal that sought to fundamentally transform the urban form of Mexico City./nThe ethnographic portion of the dissertation focuses on the resident population of a social housing estate built during the 2000s called Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is located in the municipality of Huehuetoca, State of Mexico. By studying this estate, I illustrate how treating the construction of social housing as a financial operation has led to the creation of precarious and contradictory urban spaces that embody a failed modernity. I analyze how the residents of Santa Teresa develop specific practices to confront the uncertainties that characterize this type of social housing estate. I argue that through these practices, residents become attuned to the various urban realities that define the vast metropolitan landscape. At the same time, I examine the multiple contradictions that structure residents’ awareness of their modern urban identities. In this sense, I use the term “subjectivity” to refer to residents’ sense of themselves as subjects of financial capitalism and patrimonial history. Thus, I grapple with the obstacles that residents face in piecing together projects of their own that they view as modern. I also study the ethical, political, and economic regimes that result from this complex process. I organize the chapters of the dissertation in a way that clearly outlines the overarching arguments I make regarding the financialization of social housing in Mexico City’s Metropolitan Area throughout the twentieth century. The first chapter introduces the reader to the general arguments that structure the dissertation. The second chapter provides a comprehensive historical account of the evolution of housing policy in urban Mexico. Based on the historical analysis of this chapter, I argue that we need to rethink the processes that led to the financialization of social housing. I then zoom into the social housing estate of Santa Teresa, where I conducted my ethnographic research. The following three chapters reflect the rich data I was able to gather through my interactions with residents, municipal agents, and other local actors. The last chapter contains a brief reflection regarding the entanglements of modernity and financial capitalism, and how they have mediated the emergence of diverse urban subjectivities in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area.

Advisor: Holston, James