Twelfth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

In the 1970s, Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador, was described as a “out of the way” place and a “hidden gem”. Long characterized by social and political conservatism, Cuenca languished economically until the mid 20th century. Starting in the late 1970s however, the city’s urban landscape was slowly transformed as industrial production increased and land-poor rural to urban migrants moved to the city in search of opportunities. Poor migrants took up residence in dilapidated colonial mansions in the city center abandoned by rich families who had decamped to more suburban locations. By the 1980s, the poor who could not penetrate the rigid class and ethnic hierarchies in the city turned to transnational migration to the US. Then, in 1999, the city became a UNESCO World Patrimonial site, and turned its efforts towards becoming a cosmopolitan tourist destination. Redevelopment of the historic colonial center has contributed to gentrification and opened the door for yet a new kind of transnational migration, this time of North American retirees to Cuenca. Since the great recession of 2008, many older North Americans from the U.S. and Canada have embraced Cuenca as a “retirement haven” and they have created a growing transnational ex-pat community that has made its own imprint of the city. Based on 30 years of ethnographic research, this paper will discuss the cosmopolitan aspirations of the Cuencan ruling elites and how various forms of migration and mobility have transformed an out of the way place into an ex-pat “haven”.