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Gringolandia: Lifestyle Migration under Late Capitalism
A telling look at today’s “reverse” migration of white, middle-class expats from north to south, through the lens of one South American city
Even as the “migration crisis” from the Global South to the Global North rages on, another, lower-key and yet important migration has been gathering pace in recent years—that of mostly white, middle-class people moving in the opposite direction. Gringolandia is that rare book to consider this phenomenon in all its complexity.
Matthew Hayes focuses on North Americans relocating to Cuenca, Ecuador, the country’s third-largest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many began relocating there after the 2008 economic crisis. Most are self-professed “economic refugees” who sought offshore retirement, affordable medical care, and/or a lower–cost location. Others, however, sought adventure marked by relocation to an unfamiliar cultural environment and to experience personal growth through travel, illustrative of contemporary cultures of aging. These life projects are often motivated by a desire to escape economic and political conditions in North America.
Regardless of their individual motivations, Hayes argues, such North–South migrants remain embedded in unequal and unfair global social relations. He explores the repercussions on the host country—from rising prices for land and rent to the reproduction of colonial patterns of domination and subordination. In Ecuador, heritage preservation and tourism development reflect the interests and culture of European-descendent landowning elites, who have most to benefit from the new North–South migration. In the process, they participate in transnational gentrification that marginalizes popular traditions and nonwhite mestizo and indigenous informal workers. The contrast between the migration experiences of North Americans in Ecuador and those of Ecuadorians or others from such regions of the Global South in North America and Europe demonstrates that, in fact, what we face is not so much a global “migration crisis” but a crisis of global social justice.
Even as the “migration crisis” from the Global South to the Global North rages on, another, lower-key and yet important migration has been gathering pace in recent years—that of mostly white, middle-class people moving in the opposite direction. Gringolandia is that rare book to consider this phenomenon in all its complexity.
Matthew Hayes focuses on North Americans relocating to Cuenca, Ecuador, the country’s third-largest city and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many began relocating there after the 2008 economic crisis. Most are self-professed “economic refugees” who sought offshore retirement, affordable medical care, and/or a lower–cost location. Others, however, sought adventure marked by relocation to an unfamiliar cultural environment and to experience personal growth through travel, illustrative of contemporary cultures of aging. These life projects are often motivated by a desire to escape economic and political conditions in North America.
Regardless of their individual motivations, Hayes argues, such North–South migrants remain embedded in unequal and unfair global social relations. He explores the repercussions on the host country—from rising prices for land and rent to the reproduction of colonial patterns of domination and subordination. In Ecuador, heritage preservation and tourism development reflect the interests and culture of European-descendent landowning elites, who have most to benefit from the new North–South migration. In the process, they participate in transnational gentrification that marginalizes popular traditions and nonwhite mestizo and indigenous informal workers. The contrast between the migration experiences of North Americans in Ecuador and those of Ecuadorians or others from such regions of the Global South in North America and Europe demonstrates that, in fact, what we face is not so much a global “migration crisis” but a crisis of global social justice.
- GenresNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
Published November 13, 2018
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 17, 2019
A seminal book that changed my thinking...
If you want to spoil a perfectly good vacation in Latin America, and you are a resident of the Global North, (North of Latin America) be sure to pack this academic treatise of how North-to-South migrations by "snowbirds, tech nomads, flat-busted-broke Baby Boomers, real estate developers, corporations and entrepreneurial pensioners are destroying and exploiting the economies (what's left of them), the cultures, and the lives of Global Southerners.
As you wade through the $10 words academics prefer to good 'ol regular words (who uses the word "elided" anyway) you will see yourself reflected in the case study of Quenca, Ecuador - a Unesco World Heritage city now completely overrun and "inauthentically architecturally manipulated" by Northerners or "gringos." A Gringo is what you are as a white person of privelege existing in the Global South.
The premise of the book is colonialization and corporatization have destroyed the Global South, and all Global Northerners are complicit. The author provides both scientific evidence and anecdotal stories of both Northern immigrants (think retired Canadian school teachers) and native and indiginous residents of Ecuador to make his powerful case.
As you work your way through the dense text (dictionary required) you will immediately start to view your innocent, on-the-cheap little trip to Sayulita, Mexico as not only an intrusion on a destroyed, economically depressed former fishing village, but a wasteful and guilt-producing experience you could have well avoided had you just read the book BEFORE you traveled.
By the end of your busy week of yoga, bee stings, chatting with "gringos," hiking in 90% humidity, gorging on margaritas and observing a thin veneer of wealth and privilege disguising a tourist trap of staggaring poverty and failing infrastructure, you will find yourself properly chastened and eager to return home to your bubble in the Global North. I am so sorry the prior sentence is so long. It is not as long as a week in Sayulita with this book.
Why did this book change my thinking? Because in spite of the challenging reading level, the book was expertly constructed, engagingly written, presented eye-opening facts, and generated extraordinary personal discomfort. Exactly what you are looking for on vacation, right? Another margarita please, and could you put a scorpion in that?
If you want to spoil a perfectly good vacation in Latin America, and you are a resident of the Global North, (North of Latin America) be sure to pack this academic treatise of how North-to-South migrations by "snowbirds, tech nomads, flat-busted-broke Baby Boomers, real estate developers, corporations and entrepreneurial pensioners are destroying and exploiting the economies (what's left of them), the cultures, and the lives of Global Southerners.
As you wade through the $10 words academics prefer to good 'ol regular words (who uses the word "elided" anyway) you will see yourself reflected in the case study of Quenca, Ecuador - a Unesco World Heritage city now completely overrun and "inauthentically architecturally manipulated" by Northerners or "gringos." A Gringo is what you are as a white person of privelege existing in the Global South.
The premise of the book is colonialization and corporatization have destroyed the Global South, and all Global Northerners are complicit. The author provides both scientific evidence and anecdotal stories of both Northern immigrants (think retired Canadian school teachers) and native and indiginous residents of Ecuador to make his powerful case.
As you work your way through the dense text (dictionary required) you will immediately start to view your innocent, on-the-cheap little trip to Sayulita, Mexico as not only an intrusion on a destroyed, economically depressed former fishing village, but a wasteful and guilt-producing experience you could have well avoided had you just read the book BEFORE you traveled.
By the end of your busy week of yoga, bee stings, chatting with "gringos," hiking in 90% humidity, gorging on margaritas and observing a thin veneer of wealth and privilege disguising a tourist trap of staggaring poverty and failing infrastructure, you will find yourself properly chastened and eager to return home to your bubble in the Global North. I am so sorry the prior sentence is so long. It is not as long as a week in Sayulita with this book.
Why did this book change my thinking? Because in spite of the challenging reading level, the book was expertly constructed, engagingly written, presented eye-opening facts, and generated extraordinary personal discomfort. Exactly what you are looking for on vacation, right? Another margarita please, and could you put a scorpion in that?
Displaying 1 of 1 review