Kathy Chou

The Second Generation in Chile: Negotiating Identities, Rights, and Public Policy

“…Nevertheless, several African and Chinese-descendants who were slaves in Peru fought on the side of Chile during the war, later being incorporated into the Chilean population in the Northern border between Chile and Peru. This facilitated later migrations from China to northern Chile through social networks of the Chinese who settled there (Chou, 2004). Prior to and during this period, European governments such as Germany, Switzerland, and England, also made agreements with the Chilean state to sponsor the arrival of Europeans to southern Chile, ostensibly to develop and modernize an area populated by indigenous groups (Cano and Soffia, 2009).…”

“…Since 2014, all children born in Chile can be Chilean citizens, where the current juridical framework operates on the principle of jus soli: the right of anyone born in Chilean territory to obtain nationality or citizenship. 2 Thus, the second-generationas citizensconstitute a contemporary emerging phenomenon in Chile, notwithstanding children born much earlier to the smaller and older "immigrant" populations such as the Chinese, Arabs, Germans, and other Europeans (Chou, 2004). However, according to originally sourced data from the Civil Identification and Registry (Registro Civil e Identificaci on), the number of children born in Chile between 1990 to 2016 to parents who are foreigners is uncertain due to inconsistently collected data.…”