Kalyn Finnell

MALAS/MCRP
Latin American Studies; Community and Regional Planning

Research Title : Interpreting Gentrification: Local Understandings of Tourism-Induced Gentrification in Cuzco

Kalyn Finnell, a student in the dual degree master's programs of Latin America Studies and Community and Regional Planning, traveled to Cuzco, Peru in the summer of 2017 in order to investigate how long-term residents of San Blas, a historically Quechua and mestizo neighborhood, negotiate the process of gentrification, resist displacement, and retain control over the neighborhood, which serves as a tourism hub for the city.  Situated at the nexus of Latin American Studies and Indigenous Planning, Kalyn’s work explores the effects of tourism in highly indigenous urban areas, with a particular emphasis on understanding generational language and cultural transformation in areas with heavy tourist traffic. Seeking to examine neighborhood experiences of urban change and the role residents play in these processes, Kalyn's research contextualizes the transformation of the neighborhood within its particular history and with local people’s perspectives. The research as a whole highlights the complexities of Cuzco's heterogeneity within the global context of tourism.