La consumidad: vida cotidiana, consumo y espacio rural

Abstract

The authors present the town of Val’Quirico (Tlaxcala, Mexico). This is a touristized rural space that combines characteristics of the shopping centers and the gated communities. First, as a mall, Val’Quirico is a multifunctional place that includes a group of shops. Secondly, Val’Quirico is a real estate project that responds to the characteristics of a gated community; specially, it has security and surveillance private services, and restricted and controlled access. However, Val’Quirico is more than a new case of social differentiation through the consumption patterns of human groups. Val’Quirico is a town that has just been born. On the remains of an ex hacienda, as an artificially turistized space, an architectural ensemble stands pretending to be a town of medieval European style. In this context, the authors reflect on the processes of socio-spatial segregation, and of commodification, privatization and artificialization of everyday life. These processes are developed in social contexts in which the generation of income and the extraction of capital gain through the discipline of the market is imperative. In conclusion, the neologism of consumpnity is contributed for the academic debate, as a touristized rural space between a shopping center and a gated community.