Economic Models and Magical Realism: An interdisciplinary approach to development through a concurrent analysis of 1960’s-70’s Latin American Structuralism and One Hundred Years of Solitude

Abstract

This history of thought paper analyzes how a literary perspective could be useful in thinking about economic development by studying the political economy of 1960s-70s Latin America. It explores how themes in García Márquez's landmark work, One Hundred Years of Solitude, can be related to elements of structuralism, a heterdox economic movement which advocated for the diversification of local economies and a holistic approach to policy-making. In the first chapter, a brief history of Latin American structuralism is given. The second chapter draws links between structuralist ideas and the novel's plot. In the third chapter, it is demonstrated how García Márquez's magical realism is particularly effective in conveying the cultural component of development, which structuralism on its own failed to communicate. The purpose of this research is to shed light on the potential benefits of an interdisciplinary approach to development.