Impossible Subjects: Racial Politics, Citizenship, and Spatial Mobility in Chilean Cinema of Late Neoliberalism (2011-2020)
type: CreativeWork
description: Impossible Subjects: Racial Politics, Citizenship, and Spatial Mobility in Chilean Cinema of Late Neoliberalism (2011–2020) Sandra del Valle Casals This thesis explores contemporary entanglements of racial and class politics as portrayed in Chilean films of the past decade (2011-2020). In Chile, the collapse of race into class has meant that the power of racial politics in articulating regimes of social difference has often been overlooked. However, the films analyzed here show the convoluted way in which race and nation have historically been interwoven, determining the exercise of citizenship. My analysis approaches racial frameworks in film as ways of representing (Hall, Dyer, Ahmed) that reproduce or challenge hegemonies of difference based on physical appearance as one of the main markers. In addition, the study proposes a dialogue between critical race perspectives and theories of space and urban geography, in order to discuss the spatial dimension of racial difference. The works examined indicate that spatial boundaries have been shaped by racialized ideas of progress and modernity: racial distinctions are created and reinforced through the space racialized bodies can inhabit and where they can belong. Thus, the status of Otherness in the films under discussion is framed by spatial (im)mobility. Moreover, the films also highlight that exclusion under late neoliberalism in Chile remains interwoven with paradigms of difference and the historical nation’s project of belonging, putting into question claims of the market’s neutrality and the depoliticization of neoliberal systems. I suggest that the Other embodies the figure of impossible subject which describes their condition of impossible belonging, both to the racial regime of the nation and to the neoliberal narrative underscoring the so-called Chilean economic miracle. I contend that the films under discussion, inserted as they are within the aegis of neoliberal cultural production, reveal important continui…
abstract: Impossible Subjects: Racial Politics, Citizenship, and Spatial Mobility in Chilean Cinema of Late Neoliberalism (2011–2020) Sandra del Valle Casals This thesis explores contemporary entanglements of racial and class politics as portrayed in Chilean films of the past decade (2011-2020). In Chile, the collapse of race into class has meant that the power of racial politics in articulating regimes of social difference has often been overlooked. However, the films analyzed here show the convoluted way in which race and nation have historically been interwoven, determining the exercise of citizenship. My analysis approaches racial frameworks in film as ways of representing (Hall, Dyer, Ahmed) that reproduce or challenge hegemonies of difference based on physical appearance as one of the main markers. In addition, the study proposes a dialogue between critical race perspectives and theories of space and urban geography, in order to discuss the spatial dimension of racial difference. The works examined indicate that spatial boundaries have been shaped by racialized ideas of progress and modernity: racial distinctions are created and reinforced through the space racialized bodies can inhabit and where they can belong. Thus, the status of Otherness in the films under discussion is framed by spatial (im)mobility. Moreover, the films also highlight that exclusion under late neoliberalism in Chile remains interwoven with paradigms of difference and the historical nation’s project of belonging, putting into question claims of the market’s neutrality and the depoliticization of neoliberal systems. I suggest that the Other embodies the figure of impossible subject which describes their condition of impossible belonging, both to the racial regime of the nation and to the neoliberal narrative underscoring the so-called Chilean economic miracle. I contend that the films under discussion, inserted as they are within the aegis of neoliberal cultural production, reveal important continui…
author: Del Valle Casals, Sandra
language: eng
keywords: Chile, Cinema, Critical race studies, Citizenship, Latin America, Film Studies
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2021-07-13
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:14Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.80239