Forte, Giuseppina. “Concrete Embeds: Self-Building Modernity in the Periphery of Mexico City.” Book chapter, in Mexico City: Materiality, Performance, and Power. Crysler, Greig and Maria Comerio Carranco (eds.), Metropolitan Autonomous University Press (forthcoming, 2022)

At the core of the chapter is the relationship between concrete, nation building, and the modernization project in Mexico. I investigate concrete as a modern material embedding organizational knowledge, economic resources, and imagination of progress. Since the 1910 Mexican Revolution, the accumulation of processes related to concrete reveals the convergence of public and private interests in triggering the use of this medium by DIY builders in Mexican peripheries.