¿Quién es gentrificación (‘who is gentrificación’)? Urban change, conceptual chimerae, and the challenge of blanqueamiento (‘whitening’) in Mexico City

Abstract

In this article, we outline the central tenets of an endogenous theory of neighborhood change in Mexico City known as blanqueamiento (‘whitening'). Drawing on longstanding research and intellectual exchange with local scholars and activists, we illustrate the promise this concept holds for transcending the many limitations of ‘gentrification', and its metaphrase translation, gentrificació n, in this and other contexts. We argue that while blanqueamiento and similar theories from outside the Global North often face extreme difficulties in emergence, their value to both critical scholarship and urban politics can be profound, and should be more fully explored and recognized. We demonstrate this value in Mexico City through an exploration of this concept’s core meanings and expressions, specifically in the areas of: 1) belonging, displacement, and racialized aesthetics; 2) architecture, design, and globalizing aesthetics; and 3) finance, money laundering, and the insidious complicity of aestheticized consumption. In support of our overall argument about the need for more productive urban exchanges and the critical co-production of knowledge on the topic of urban change through translation, we bring together insights from ongoing debates on the nature and uses of gentrification in contemporary cities and the politics of theory-making and conceptualization in geography and urban studies across the globe.