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Lost in the Long Transition: Struggles for Social Justice in Neoliberal Chile
Author(s): William L. Alexander
- Publisher: Lexington Books
- Publication Date: September 24, 2009
- Language: English
- Print length: 218 pages
- ISBN-10: 073911865X
- ISBN-13: 9780739118658
Book Description
Presenting case studies by anthropologists, historians, political scientists, and environmental specialists, Lost in the Long Transition critically examines the impact of neoliberal economic and social policies at the local level in post-dictatorship Chile. Topics include privatization of water rights, tuberculosis and public health crises, the role of labor unions, industrial salmon farming, natural resource conservation, the political ecology of copper, struggles for affordable housing, homelessness and citizenship rights, and gender identity issues in the experiences of returned exiles.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“This book. . . generally adopts a narrative style and approach more attuned to the moment of its production, when opposition to neoliberalism was muted. But it is a testament to the book’s quality that it develops insights of paramount importance for understanding present dynamics and discontent. In the introduction, Alexander provides a synthetic and accessible overview of neoliberalism’s Chilean trajectory. He highlights how ongoing legacies from the dictatorship and the continued application of pro-free market policies belied efforts by the presidencies of the Center-Left from 1990 to 2010 to complete a transition to democracy and produce ‘growth with equity.’ Alexander insightfully organizes the volume into two sections: ‘Private Interests and the Public Good’ and ‘In Place, At Issue.’ These titles encapsulate core themes and point to basic tensions in contemporary Chile. … Clearly, as the contributors to this volume demonstrate, neoliberalism is of primary importance in understanding the contemporary context. The essays drawn together here go a long way in furthering our understanding of neoliberalism’s reach and its present contradictions in Chile.” ―Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology
About the Author
William L. Alexander is assistant professor of cultural anthropology at University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Resiliency in Hostile Environments: A Comunidad Agr’cola in Chile’s Norte Chico.
