Modern Mexico: Representations of Mexico City's Urban Life
Mexico City's transformation across the 20th and 21st centuries serves as the lens for this MIT OpenCourseWare course on Mexican literature and cultural production. Readings draw on novels, essays, and visual works by Mexican intellectuals and artists who documented the city's growth, migration waves, and shifting national identity. The syllabus traces how writers responded to state control, globalization, and urban sprawl, using the capital as a case study for broader tensions in modern Mexican society. Materials include a full reading list, discussion questions, and written assignments drawn from MIT's undergraduate humanities curriculum. The course is delivered as free OpenCourseWare material, with syllabus, readings, and assignment prompts available for self-study; no certificate is offered. It suits students interested in Latin American literature, urban studies, or the cultural history of one of the world's largest cities.