Log 4
O’Brien, Philip J., and Jacqueline Roddick. Chile, the Pinochet Decade: The Rise and Fall of the Chicago Boys. London: Latin America Bureau, 1983.
This prologue of this text has maps, timelines, statistics, as well as brief descriptions of each of the political parties and trade unions involved in the conflict. Additionally, it offers snapshot interviews and references other primary sources that could be included in my podcasts. This book also delves into the parallel timelines between Pinochet’s coup and the meeting of the Chicago boys to make plans about the state of the Chilean economy. I found this interesting and had not yet come across this in my other sources thus far. Another unique part of this book is that is has quotes from major newspapers reacting to the economic policies or different economic concepts. I think these could be employed in my podcast, along with other audio primary sources, to add a more authentic feel to it. The text ends by outlining the economic collapse as well as highlighting the humanitarian crisis that occurred while Pinochet’s dictatorship was in power. While the book takes a seemingly neutral stance throughout the beginning and middle, by the end it brings to light the underlying issues with the Chilean miracle and speaks of them negatively.
WorldFocus, 2009. Accessed April 19, 2019. Youtube.
This video from 2009 talks about the continued legacy of the Chicago Boys in Chile. They use interviews with actual “Chicago boys” that I plan on including (as audio clips) in my podcast. The video was produced by WorldFocus, an international news and reporting show on the American Public Television (APT) Network. This source is incredibly credible and provides a unique perspective to the Chilean Miracle. They interview an economist who claims that they still use free-market policies in Chile today because “to put it simply, they worked”. The video discusses how severe inflation and the poverty rate have been remedied by these laissez-faire policies. This source is helpful to my research because it takes a much more positive stance towards the dictatorship than almost all of my sources, particularly the Davis-Hamel piece. However, they do highlight the brutal and violent practices of the dictatorship, but the Chicago boy interviewee ultimately argues that they needed the dictatorship to radically change the social institutions and the economic structure. They conclude the video by interviewing the Finance Minister whose father was exiled by the dictatorship. Although he declares that no economic policies could possibly justify the atrocities committed by the dictatorship, not all these policies were ‘bad’ and needed to be eradicated just because they occurred on Pinochet.
Reflection
This week I began to source audio/video clips for my podcast. The WorldFocus video was helpful not only that it provided primary sources I can use in my podcast, but also because it provided a completely different perspective of the Chilean miracle. These Chilean economists found that the free-market policies have actually radically changed the Chilean economy for the better. However, this video seems to gloss over some of the negative social repercussions of the miracle like the extreme inequality and lower standard of living for the poor, as well as the abuse enacted by the dictatorship. The other source also had some credible primary source information that I think with add to my podcast. I think I will include the quotes in my podcast using a variety of different voices to make them sound authentic. Next week in my research I plan to elaborate a little on what exactly a ‘miracle’ means and brainstorm how I will open the podcast.
Comments:
Great job, Sydney. I think your sources are great and you are providing an insightful reflection on them.
A quick suggestion: it makes sense that you want to represent different voices regarding Chilean “miracle” in your podcast. However, make sure to hold these different claims to high standards. Ask yourself the following questions: do these different voices provide strong evidence for their claims or are their evidence anecdotal? Do they address potential counter-arguments? Do they do justice to the complexity of these potential counter-arguments? Do they define their key words (e.g. “free-market”)? or do they caricaturize them? Do they make unquestioned assumptions about self and society?
Asking these questions will help you go beyond only representing these voices but dissect them and point out some tensions, contradictions, and silences in their voices.
Also, it is a great idea to brainstorm what a “miracle” means for next week.