In the mid-1970s, Latin America entered a period of profound social and economic crisis, marked by the rise of brutal military dictatorships across much of the region and the near-collapse of some of Latin America’s largest economies, in Mexico and Brazil. In response to this crisis, governments across the region adopted neoliberal structural adjustment programmes from the 1980s onwards, under the auspices of international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These reforms typically entailed sweeping cuts to public health and welfare programmes, the privat ... More

In the mid-1970s, Latin America entered a period of profound social and economic crisis, marked by the rise of brutal military dictatorships across much of the region and the near-collapse of some of Latin America’s largest economies, in Mexico and Brazil. In response to this crisis, governments across the region adopted neoliberal structural adjustment programmes from the 1980s onwards, under the auspices of international organisations, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These reforms typically entailed sweeping cuts to public health and welfare programmes, the privatisation of large parts of the public infrastructure, the redistribution of wealth to economic elites, and a notable growth in poverty. As a result, these structural adjustment programmes faced growing resistance from the early 1990s onwards. Social and political movements, such as the Zapatistas in Mexico, formulated powerful challenges to neoliberal orthodoxy, while the election to government of left-wing populist leaders such as Hugo Chávez (1998), Evo Morales (2005) or Rafael Correa (2006) opened the door to experiments with a range of anti-neoliberal political programmes. The failures of these programmes and ongoing conflicts between neoliberal and anti-neoliberal elites and social movements have by the mid-2010s resulted in growing social instability. This book examines cultural responses to this instability. It looks at a wide range of cultural forms, such as literature, underground cinema, street fairs and self-help books to explore how Latin Americans construct subjectivities, build communities and make meaning in their everyday lives in during a profound crisis of the social. In this context, the book emphasises the role which neoliberal and anti-neoliberal narratives of self and social relationships may come to play in popular culture and everyday lived experience in Latin America today.