Poesía, canción y cultura popular en LatinoAmérica: La Nueva Canción Chilena

By analyzing the close connections and prolific dialogues among poetry, song, "high", and popular culture, in the Nueva Canción Chilena, this dissertation sheds light on the profound social and cultural impact this movement has had on the Chilean and Latin American collective imaginary. As a method of analysis, this dissertation uses a transdisciplinary approach drawing from different academic fields and recent works on poetry, song, ethnomusicology, orality and literacy, and Latin American Cultural Studies.

The Nueva Canción Chilena successfully combined "lettered" poetic and musical forms with popular and folkloric traditions, and a strong social message in the context of a larger cultural and political movement. Through the inclusion of previously marginalized groups of society, it presented alternatives to elitist conceptions of art, offered a more democratized cultural vision, and proposed a revised concept of nationhood that challenged the "mesocratic" ideal of the Chilean nation formulated during the preceding decades. As in the poetry of Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, and Nicolás Guillén, the Nueva Canción Chilena "imagined" a more inclusive Latin America, and constituted a true alternative to hegemonic and exclusionary ideas of the Chilean nation.

The Nueva Canción Chilena challenged the hegemony of Chilean ruling groups and attempted to bring political change through cultural means. It played a crucial role in, but was not limited to, the coming to power of the Popular Unity Front and their attempt to establish a more egalitarian society. By proposing a new definition of Chilean and Latin American identity, one that embodied both a connection with the past and a commitment with building a future, it constituted a challenge to existing representations that promoted, justified, or condoned the exclusion of the majorities and the continuation of traditional and modern forms of domination and oppression. In turn, it offered representations that promoted egalitarianism, social justice, and political and ethnic emancipation. Through its rich lyrics, the Nueva Canción Chilena reformulated the concept of nationhood and helped redefine what it means to be Chilean and, to a certain extent, Latin American.