ABSTRACT
E. Bradford Burns’ two-sided depiction of modernization in Latin America – elites’ embrace of Western models of development countered by popular hostility to those approaches – long embodied the standard narrative of modernizing Latin America. This narrative portrays modernization as a project and process imposed by Eurocentric elites on local peoples despite their resistance (Esherick, 2000; Lees, 1985; Hahner, 1986). Of course, this narrative directly impacts our historical portrayals of cities ‘beyond the West’ since it positions national populations, in this case those of Latin America, as ‘traditional’, ‘backward-looking’ and highly local in their orientation. While accurately describing certain nineteenth-and twentiethcentury contexts, when applied broadly, this narrative obscures more than it reveals about modern urban change in cities ‘beyond the West’.
