Sanchez Munoz, Gustavo Andres (2024) Fantasies of critique : a study of the unconscious economy of the Chilean estallido. PhD thesis, Birkbeck, University of London.
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Abstract
This is an investigation of the desire for change. Adopting a Lacanian perspective, I study this topic due to the strange straightforwardness such a desire has acquired within contemporary progressive academia. On the one hand, the influence of affective theory suggests that emancipation is a matter of breaking with our symbolic ties to unleash the potency of bodies. Here, the desire for change coincides with itself. On the other hand, Lacanian scholarship seems theoretically aware of the ambivalence of desire, but focuses primarily on its mobilisation in oppressive settings. Here, the desire for change is underexplored. To counter this situation, I argue that the psychoanalytic notion of fantasy is crucial to understanding the complexities of the desire for social transformation. I substantiate my argument through the empirical study of an emancipatory event: the 2019 Chile revolt known as estallido. Based on a fieldwork conducted between March and June 2022, I enquire about the identification of local critical scholars with this event. My investigation strategically focuses on these actors since they can be conceptualised as subjects who shape themselves according to the good of social change. Accordingly, it would be reasonable to expect from these critical subjects an unproblematic identification with the revolt. However, the interpretation of my material demonstrates that this is not the case. Their desire for change must travel through winding unconscious paths that attest to the ambivalence of subjective identification with social change. My interpretation of the fantasies of critique provides evidence that the estallido succeeded in the transformation of neoliberal meanings but, to a large extent, kept its libidinal economy in place. This evinces the benefits of an imaginary approach to the desire for change, providing a more nuanced picture of its unconscious dynamics than the one offered by contemporary perspectives. Keywords: Fantasy, critique, estallido, desire, social change, neoliberalism.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Thesis |
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| Copyright Holders: | The copyright of this thesis rests with the author, who asserts his/her right to be known as such according to the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. No dealing with the thesis contrary to the copyright or moral rights of the author is permitted. |
| Depositing User: | Acquisitions And Metadata |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Jun 2024 16:28 |
| Last Modified: | 04 Jun 2024 13:23 |
| URI: | https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/53628 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.18743/PUB.00053628 |
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