The Taxi Ride: Migration, Whiteness, and Reactionary Moves Among Gringo Youth in Urban Ecuador

When white US Americans migrate to—and become “gringos” in—Ecuador, they perceive disruptions to certain psychological privileges of whiteness as they move through public space. This article examines how the taxi ride took shape as an encounter in and around which white US American young adults registered these subjective disruptions and engaged in a series of “reactionary moves” aimed at reversing them. Through participants’ repeated engagements in these moves, I argue, the taxi ride emerged as a site of habitual investment in the remaking of white US American privilege overseas.