SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Urban
 communication
 research
 in
 Latin
 America
 is
 not
 just
 responding
 to, or
rejecting, Western
 perspectives
 but
 producing
 material
 that
 can
 be
 valuable
 for understanding 
arguments 
about 
ordinary 
cities 
within 
the 
context 
of
 globalisation.
 We interrogate 
current
 frameworks 
in 
urban
 cultural 
studies
 and
 communication 
theory 
to 
highlight 
how
 research 
in 
Latin 
America 
provide 
new
 possibilities 
for
 exchange
 and
 dialogues
 into
 an
 area
 of
 study
 that
 is
 often
 missing
 or
 limited
 in
 Western
 urban 
cultural 
analysis. 
We
 argue 
that 
this
 research
 moves
 away 
from
 theories 
that
 deemed Latin
 American
 cities
 as
 underdeveloped
 or
 unequally
 inserted
 in
 to
 the
 network
 of global 
cities
 by 
providing 
ways
 of
 narrating, imagining 
and
 understanding 
the
 city 
in their
 own 
terms.
 This
 research 
however
 does
 not 
go
 unchallenged; we 
also
 argue 
that Latin 
American 
capital 
cities 
are 
often 
privileged 
at 
the 
cost
 of 
forgetting, ignoring
 or
 just 
describing
 as
 traditional
 other 
Latin
American
 cities 
in 
the 
region.