Life imitating art imitating life: The raging discontent of Chile

Alvaro Navarro / CC BY-SA. Concepcion, Chile protests 2019 via Wikipedia

Post submission by Dr. Joe Hardwick and Oscar Cárdenas (PhD Candidate)

Recently, popular Chilean magazine The Clinic conducted an interview with acclaimed filmmaker and PhD candidate at the University of Queensland, Oscar Cárdenas (also known as Oscar Cárdenas Navarro). The interview, which is available on The Clinic‘s website here, focused on Cárdenas’ ability to capture the discontent of Chileans which until recently, had quietly simmered under the surface of normalcy. However, recent events in Chile have brought that simmer to a raging boil, making international headlines.

Chile has experienced ongoing protests and a civil uprising which started on 18 October 2019. These are the largest protests Chile has experienced since the end of the Pinochet’s dictatorship. They began in response to a fare increase on the Santiago Metro’s subway line, emblematic of a much larger issue of disparity in living conditions in the country, with protestors citing factors such as the rising cost of living, income inequality, political corruption, and mass privatisation of services. The crisis has been heralded as yet another “brutal legacy” of the Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet neo-liberalism who ruled from 1979 – 1990. 

A Rose by any Other Name: Japanese Conservatives and the Question of Retaining One’s Family Name

Photo by Trung Nguyen on Pexels.com

Submission by Assoc. Prof. David Chapman

In many countries around the world, including Australia, it is commonplace for a woman to take on her husband’s surname after marriage. As the ABC reported last year, recent estimates suggest that approximately 80% of women choose to change their name after marriage. However, many are turning to away from traditional expectations, with some brides keeping their own name, choosing hyphenated names, and some husbands/spouses choosing to take on their wife’s name.

In Australia, expectations around a woman’s choice to change her name after marriage are usually limited to her family and immediate social circle. It may be more acceptable to do so in certain social contexts than in others. As name changes are a “matter of custom, not law“, there is no government intervention to keep track of, nor enforce this practice in any way.