Carnival and Revolt: The Political Ambivalence of the 2019 Chilean Estallido

In this article, I will argue that the perspective of ritual and festive violence related to events such as carnivals, masquerades, or fiestas , needs to be considered alongside economic, structural, and demographic explanations to understand better the phenomenon of social revolts and riots in general, and the Chilean estallido social (social outburst) of 2019 in particular. I propose that only by doing so can we explain the ambiguity of these situations and their varied, often surprising, and complex political outcomes.