Authoritarianism and Paths of Resistance in Latin America

How does political crisis and, more specifically, repression, transform artistic movements and their evolution? And how do the paths that artists take in contexts of crisis shape the cultural environment in which citizens respond and resist? Authoritarianism in Latin America during the 1960s and 1970s spawned bifurcations and the re-drawing of boundaries in and between artistic movements. This paper explores the separation of political from cultural resistance as one such bifurcation among groups of musicians facing military dictatorship in Uruguay and Brazil during this period. Comparison of four musical movements sheds light on how repression transformed artistic trajectories in each country. Politically engaged reactions to authoritarianism built on social movement participation and ideological commitment to produce music that could be used as a tool for sustaining anti-authoritarian identities and supporting mobilization. Countercultural reactions attacked authoritarianism from a different angle, challenging established national identities, incorporating foreign musics and thereby also threatening the cultural status quo. The bifurcation of political and cultural responses to authoritarianism produced distinct paths which diverged or converged depending on the institutional conditions in which artists carried out and disseminated their work. In some mediating contexts, competition between the two currents prevailed, producing the polarization of politically engaged and countercultural artists. In other environments, the two paths converged as artists collaborated to combine political and cultural responses to repression. These dynamics in turn shaped the cultural and political environment of resistance to authoritarianism, just as much as social movements and, sometimes, in the absence of openly manifest social movements. Building on this comparison, the author draws broader conclusions on the long-term impact of resistant art on the cultural, political and social landscape in which it develops.