Examining Resilience, Subjectivity, and Trauma: The Case of Migrants´ Mental Health in Chile.
Liliana Acero (Corresponding author)
In recent decades migration within Latin America has increased significantly. To take one example, 1,625,074 South American migrants were living in Chile as of 2023, many enduring precarious conditions such as being on the streets or in assigned basic camping sites without water or sewage facilities. In the past 50 years the Chilean government has enacted just twoofficial migration policies: the first in 1975, designed by the military dictatorship and with some amendments added by subsequent democratic governments, and the second in 2021. This article aims at a qualitative analysis of the present and controversial migration policy that is based upon the narratives of key migration policy actors in contemporary Chile. Three main framings for understanding the policy are presented. The first can be defined as technocratic, attentive to format and data processing; the second is socially conscious of the subjectivity and vulnerability of migrants; and the last focuses on ensuring migrants’ human rights. These visions are not necessarily in opposition, as they sometimes interconnect or complement each other. However, the interviewees expressed a certain degree of gratitude that a new law had been designed and ratified, although they had expected more from it.
Keywords: Migration policies; framings; migrants; social integration; human rights
Life quality and social integration of migrants settled in Chile. Venezuelan narratives.
Autores: Liliana Acero y Pablo Zuleta.
Abstract
Local economic crisis, violence and permanent political uncertainty, especially in some developing countries,has led to a massive migration of Venezuelans, lately to other countries of South America, looking for better living conditions or mere subsistence. The total number of Venezuelans living in Chile had reached until
2022, 532.715 individuals, representing 32,8% of the migrant population in the country. Since 2014, Venezuelans have arrived in waves with different social, economic and cultural characteristics. This paper presented a qualitative analysis of the effects of selected indicators on the quality of life and social integration of ten Venezuelan migrants in Chile by gender, age and class, as narrated by themselves. Its aim was to explore their socioeconomic and cultural trajectories during settlement in Chile and show how they affected their resilience strategies and social integration. Findings showed a precarious stability in life quality, devaluation of their work and professional status, daily suffering of a variety of maltreatment forms and
injustices, most especially, though not only at work. The resilient strategies they have followed involve regrouping among compatriots, certain emotional isolation from nationals, absence of or mild confrontation of ill-treatment, as well as denial of migrant discrimination as a marked social trend.
Autores: Liliana Acero y Pablo Zuleta
«Venezuelans Migrants’ Resilience Strategies and Social Integration: A View From Chile»
Abstract
There has been a substantial influx of legal and irregular Venezuelan migrants into Chile in recent years, the number of whom was estimated as of May 2024 to be 532.700. They represent 32.8% of total migrants and the majority of foreign residents. Their expectations in migration were based on the global characterisation of Chile as an „oasis‟ in Latin America. They were looking for either mere survival – given the socioeconomic conditions and violence prevailing in Venezuela – or stability and a better standard of living. The present paper develops a qualitative analysis of their resilience capacity and social adaptation strategies during resettlement. Ten in-depth face-to-face interviews were carried out divided by gender and class. Interviewees‟ narratives were analysed with an eye to how they describe
their networks and relationships, the personal characteristics that favour their integration, their affinities and differences with the host country‟s cultural trends, and their fears of losing their culture of origin, as well as the possibilities of developing a new life project in Chile.
The results show that their resilience patterns are mostly conservative and endurance oriented, though with some divergence. This individualistic component overlaps with a strong reliance on their families and close relationships, mostly among compatriots. However, none of them belong to migrant organisations that can defend their rights, despite their living in a „hyper neoliberal‟ country that offers little state support for the implementation of adequate policies that could facilitate their social integration.
Artículo publicado en London Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science, titulado «Contemporary Migration Policies in Chile: The Voices of Public Officials, International Agents and Migrants Collective Representatives».
Autores: Liliana Acero, Pablo Zuleta y Claudia Dides.
In recent decades, South American migration within and towards Latin America has grown
substantially. In Chile, per official data over 1,6 million foreign nationals were residing in the country
in 2023, almost equally divided between genders and mainly located in the Metropolitan Region of
Santiago de Chile, with Venezuelans predominating. The present study consists of a qualitative
analysis of policy narratives based on interviews to migration-related policymakers, representatives of
international organizations and migrant collectivity spokesmen in Chile. It aims at analysing their
convergent or divergent understandings of the progress of present migration policies and associated
state capacities. Three main framings are identified. The first could be defined as technocratic, centered
on producing evidence and implementing the objectives of general or specific policies. The second takes
into account migrants’ subjective experience and shows the concrete problems they face daily. The last
emphasises the contemporary humanitarian crisis migrants are experiencing and the discriminatory
reactions of the host country. It entails a radical change in national security. These visions do not
necessarily exclude each other; they are sometimes interconnected and complementary.
Artículo publicado en International Journal of Research in Educaction, Humanities and Commerce, titulado «How do Venezuelan Migrants to Chile Narrate Their Migration Process and its Effects Upon Health and Mental Health?».
Autores: Liliana Acero y Pablo Zuleta.
Migration to Chile has increased substantially during the last 5 years, with the latest wave of
migrants being that of Venezuelans, representing as of 2022 more than half a million people,
i.e. 32.8% of foreign residents. Unplanned migration flows have generated a profound crisis
characterised by high levels of xenophobia and a lack of protective state policies. This study
aims to analyse qualitatively the characteristics of the early migration processes as narrated by
10 Venezuelan migrants to Chile, emphasising their effects on psychosomatic health. It argues
that social stigma has a direct adverse impact on psychosomatic health, while stamina works
in the opposite direction, being mediated by the social support received from others. The work
is based on Venezuelans’ perceptions before and during departure, in their journeys, and upon
their arrival in Chile. Findings show that key factors negatively influence their mental health
at the different stages, such as forced migration, unplanned or sudden fleeing, violence and
profound adversities faced on bus and on foot journeys, irregular entry, and exhaustion,
reduced access to mental health care, social discrimination and acculturation stress. The main
protective factors that favor mental health include the care provided by relatives and friends,
as well as the favourable disposition of hosts.
Link para el e-booklet «Perspectives on Resilience and Mourning in the Historical and Current Chilean Migration Context»:
Autores: Liliana Acero, Pablo Zuleta y Claudia Dides.
This booklet forms part of the theoretical approaches and debates to be applied in
Cluster 4 of the international project: “Human Mobility, Global Challenges and Resilience
in an Age of Social Stress” (PHOENIX), Coordinated by Prof. Susan Rothman ( General
Principal Investigator- PI) and funded by the Belmont Forum, as well as, having financial
aid from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), in the case of the
Latin American countries: Brazil (Rio de Janeiro and the Amazon), Uruguay, Argentina
and Chile. In the case of São Paulo, the funding for the team at The State University of
Campinas (UNICAMP) has been provided by The Foundation for the Support of
Research in the State of São Paulo (FAPESP).