Border-city idée fixe

Images of Mexican border cities have become fixed in North American minds. Four particularly resilient perceptions persist: a Gemini complex which insists that Mexican border communities are "twins" of their American cohorts; a demographic mirage in which the populations of Mexican border towns are regularly inflated; a Cyprian supermarket reputation which exaggerates the unsavory adult-entertainment districts of these cities; and a faux-locus mentality which refuses to acknowledge that border towns are "the real Mexico." Latin American geographers can combat these myths and exaggerations and contribute to a richer understanding of cities in the region through field studies that interpret the personalities of urban places.