Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History by Araceli Masterson-Algar

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History by Araceli Masterson-Algar Juan Suárez Ontaneda Ecuadorians in Madrid: Migrants' Place in Urban History Palgrave, 2016 by Araceli Masterson-Algar Through a dialogue between migration studies, space theory, postcolonial theory, and cultural studies, Araceli MastersonAlgar analyzes how Ecuadorians in Madrid have become agents in the spatial construction of the city, a spatiality that is understood as both symbolic and material. Masterson-Algar's study takes a critical departure from recent bibliography and places Ecuadorian migrants beyond consumers of space, highlighting their power as urban change-agents who reconstruct and reimagine the city: "This shifts attention from migrants' processes of 'adjustment' and/or 'integration' in Madrid, to how Ecuadorian residents make the city" (4). For the author, "making the city" is best understood not through the Habermasian dichotomy between the private and public sphere, but rather through feminist scholarship, where the focus shifts to social relations ranging from intimate to global (13). Moreover, Masterson-Algar relies on the interdisciplinary work of geographers like Armando Silva (2007), for whom "the imaginary urbanizes" to assess how [End Page 326] Ecuadorians make the city through material and symbolic spatial interventions (ibid). Masterson-Algar uses the city's Metro as a central metaphor to help explain Ecuadorians' spatial interventions, both above-ground and beneath-surface. As such, each chapter can be approached as a station along a migrant's journey of spatial construction in the city. The first station is transatlantic: it begins in Quito, establishing the historical context of Ecuadorian migration to Spain as a result of the 1998 financial crisis that destabilized the country's socioeconomic fabric. In this first chapter, Masterson-Algar provides three important frameworks for the reader. First, she describes why Madrid was an attractive destination for Ecuadorian migrants: abundance of service and domestic jobs, diverse amenities that make it a palatable city for both younger and older generations, and the dynamism inherent to a large and modern city. Second, the author presents both the quantitative and qualitative methodologies used in the book's ethnography (36-40). Finally, she provides a historical context of Madrid's main automotive artery: The Paseo de la Castellana. While Madrid's Metro is a useful metaphor to understand how Ecuadorians navigate the city, La Castellana is the above-ground structure that connects parks, dance clubs, and residential areas. Forced to travel the underground Metro to gain access to the city center from the urban periphery, one of Masterson-Algar's interviewees shared, "Here, I live the life of Bugs Bunny. I enter through one hole and exit through another" (60). This testimony perfectly illustrates what the second chapter sets out to contribute: Ecuadorians have come to understand and relate to the city through not only the design of the Metro, but also through the disconnect between design and consumption of space. A specific example can be found in the BiblioMetros, a public library system designed by Metro administration. Most of the author's interviewees were not aware of this system, but they undoubtedly used the stations and the Metro as a "social space" (58). Ecuadorians in Madrid have developed an affinity for the city's Metro, which has been capitalized on by Madrid's Metro authorities. Masterson-Algar concludes this chapter by analyzing how Madrid's Metro company won the bid to build Quito's 2019 subway project, and argues that the described affinity played an important role in the negotiations. Chapter three concludes with another parallel between urban imagination and transnational desire drawing on the design of Quito's Parque Bicentenario, and its similarities with Madrid's Casa de Campo. The latter became a place of recreation for Ecuadorians after they were prohibited from the use of another, more centrally located park—El Retiro. Masterson-Algar provides a strong analysis of how Ecuadorians used El Retiro up until 2003, when several local government initiatives mobilized to "recuperate" the park from alleged incivility caused by Ecuadorians. The end of Ecuadorian public use came in the form of literal epitaph when a memorial monument read: El Bosque del Recuerdo, in commemoration of the victims of terrorism during the 11-M (2003) attacks. In...