Crisis sociopolítica, pandemia y vivienda precaria: ¿Arraigo haitiano en Santiago de Chile? (2019-2021)

Abstract

The logic of the so-called “social distancing” has highlighted the vulnerability of immigrants, especially those of Haitian origin. Facing this, through qualitative methodology, the relationship between the measures decreed in the face of the pandemic, a political-social crisis that precedes it, informal labor, and precarious housing, is explored, since these points are key to understanding the formation of a unique habitat, ties, and the building of a “territorialized us”, which provides answers to how the health crisis is lived, and how the project of life and social insertion in Chile, particularly in Santiago, is redefined. This is a young population with difficulties to exercise the right to the city within the principles of democracy, equality, and social justice, being cast as second class due to daily and institutional racism. These conditions have effects on the migrant route, their intentions to settle, and the tendency to return to their countries of origin.