Review of Degree Thesis

Thesis Title: THE VINDICATION OF THE USELESS. Biographical narratives of new wave and
punk youth on the dictatorial Santiago (1979-1984)
Thesis Student: Luciano Benítez Leiva
Program: Master in Contemporary Hispanic-American Literature

In my role of director of Thesis I worked with the student for more than two years. For that reason
I strongly believe that his work as researcher and the thesis as well, are absolutely meritorious and
accomplish the requirements to obtain a Master’s degree.

This thesis presents social and cultural aspects of the punk and new wave movements in Chile,
beyond the musical sphere, with the objective of figuring out the ideological adscription and
consequent political position of the first youngsters who recognized themselves by this aesthetics,
before it became an explicit opposition movement to the dictatorship. Starting from the
assumption that the punk and new wave youth cultures were an apolitical option (based in the
previous studies about the subject) the master’s candidate affirms that this phenomena is rather a
counterculture which answers to the repression of the Chilean dictatorship by means of what he
calls ‘the ironic’ desire of freedom (to dress and have fun).

A work very well written, with clear presentations and assertiveness, so that its reading is easy,
entertaining and without subtracting complexity to the analysis. I would first highlight these
features of the revised thesis because, in my opinion, these features are revealing of the
enormous research potential from Luciano Benitez, aspects that should seriously be considered for
continuing advanced studies in an anthropology-literature confluence. And precisely, another
significant feature appears in the thesis work method –or rather, methods- which led to a course
of action that became a confluent approach between the literary autobiographical-testimonial
method with the proper biographical method of long tradition in the field of anthropology.

I would like to highlight the following elements of this thesis:

1. The investigation represents a new field of study, at a disciplinary and sub disciplinary level
(historic anthropology of youth, cultural studies and literature), of collectives present in
the dictatorial Chile. Therefore, it is a significant contribution for the systematic approach
of actors and cultural processes that have been historically omitted by human sciences in
our country.

2. The work has a theoretical support coherent with the proposed objectives. Also, I
emphasize the rigorous work with sources and methodology (biographic perspective), as
well as the contextualization and systematized antecedents, which permit place the
singular progression of the proto-punks and proto-new waves in their embryonic state,
allowing an understanding of the dialectics of youth cultures in our present.

3. The thesis proposes an interesting discussion about the origins (in time and by class
adscription) of punk and new wave cultures in the country from the investigations about
the subject and the reception of the youth magazines from the period. But it will be the
 testimonies, collected by the candidate, from young people self-recognized as part of
those subcultures, the ones that will allow, through the transmission of an epochal
experience, to reach the results reported: the necessity of creating spaces of freedom in a
repressive context. In that way, the use of a life stories analysis, to approach the topic
through the memories of experiences and desires that no necessarily implied a political
stance, is totally justified.

4. From the cases studied, the candidate notices fundamental and characteristic features of
youth that grew in the dictatorship. Against repression, censorship and silencing of the
speeches, the choice of dresses, music and entertainment spaces make political
performances (coming to replace speeches) and will not be purely -from this perspective-
fashion, consumption options offered by the market or the phenomena of tautological
discourses that can be formulated publicly.

5. The work contains a thorough and developed theoretical framework (regarding categories
of generation, youth culture, resistance, testimony and autobiography) that allows an
understanding and delves into the problems that develop. The hypothesis is complexified
throughout the development -which is the analysis of the testimonies (and the
bibliographical material on youth cultures studied)-, concluding -as we saw- by asserting a
"Multidimensional resistance". The thesis also exhibits a careful presentation of formal
aspects such as writing, spelling and citation of sources.

Therefore, I believe that the thesis constitutes a significant contribution to social, historical and
testimonial studies, to which I approve this thesis with the highest note: 7.0 (seven)

Yanko González Cangas

Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities at Universidad Austral de Chile