Cosmopolitanism and modernity: immigrants and "locals" in times of globalization. The case of the Koreans in the southeast region of Tamaulipas

Abstract

The article analyzes the generation of contradictory and paradoxical representations, partly positive and partly xenophobic and denigrating, about foreigners in places such as the Tampico region, where for geographical, historical and economic reasons, a cosmopolitan culture, open to the foreign as an expression of modernity and progress. These representations are partly explained by the dissymmetrical and conflictive relationships -generated at the local level- between foreigners (represented by Koreans in the case considered) and local workers, supported by native settlers in general. The analysis gives rise to review the concept of cosmopolitanism in local situations, as well as that of modernity