Racism in multicultural neighbourhoods in Chile: Housing precarity and coexistence in a migratory context

Abstract

Chile is one of the countries with major destination flows from Latin America. In such a context, new distinctions and racial formations have emerged, establishing different forms of social exclusion and racism that are performed in the everyday interaction and socio-cultural practices that take place in residential neighbourhoods. This research is based on one of the most multicultural boroughs in Santiago, Recoleta, historically located in a territory called ‘La Chimba.’ The aim is to examine the intercultural coexistence in increasingly multicultural neighbourhoods in the context of South-South migration, in order to discuss the emerging social conflict, understanding how housing policies and limited access to decent housing by migrants reproduce everyday racism. Drawing on a larger research project that consisted in a 17-month ethnography, 70 in-depth interviews and two focus groups with migrants and Chileans between 2015 and 2018, this article shows and discusses how public spaces are racialised through social practices and interactions, and how the making of ‘race’ in urban spaces have an impact on the way in which migrants inhabit and navigate urban spaces and negotiate their ‘right to the city’ in the everyday.

Of Calimero and other stories

“…Built as a homogenously white, European-like nation after freezing the legacy of indigenous cultures into the past, Chilean society has grappled with institutional anti-black racism and xenophobia since it became a destination for Black refugees and immigrants from the Caribbean, especially Haitians. Labor discrimination and exploitation, poor housing, and overt demonstrations of intolerance and rejection characterize the experience of Black immigrants in Chile (Bonhomme, 2021). However, anti-immigrant sentiments are not acknowledged as racist but as legitimate defenses against the alleged rise of criminality and degradation attributed to the arrival of immigrants.…”

Home as the Third Place: Stories of movement among immigrant caregivers in an intercultural Chilean city

“…Chilean literature indicates that contact between international immigrants and local society has led to experiences of social and racial discrimination (Gissi‐Barbieri & Ghio Suárez, 2017; Rojas Pedemonte & Koechlin, 2017; SJM, 2022). Additionally, the living conditions faced by some international immigrants are precarious given job instability and lack of labor protections (Caro & Cárdenas, 2022; Stefoni et al., 2017), difficulties and limitations in access to health care (Cabieses et al., 2017; Cabieses & Oyarte, 2020), unstable housing conditions, structural precariousness and overcrowding (Bonhomme, 2021, Lopez‐Morales et al., 2018), and insecure migratory status and high uncertainty (Thayer & Tijoux, 2022).…”

Estrategias desinformativas sobre migración en Chile: encuadre de noticias falsas respecto a la movilidad humana

“…Asimismo, se ha analizado el discurso político de las élites (Correa, 2018) y las percepciones de la población (Navarrete, 2017). En este sentido, estudios coinciden en que existen formas de racismo (Tijoux, 2016) que afectan la convivencia (Bonhomme, 2021).…”