Racialized Boundaries Against Haitian Immigrants in Chile: Two Case Studies
Keywords:
Global, Migration, Racialized discourses, Critical discourses, Postcolonial theory
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Racism is a type of systematic power abuse by a dominant group against diverse minorities through discursive and material practices (Van Dijk, 2021). This article draws attention to the generation of racializing discourses, particularly towards the Haitian immigrant population in Chile, in (a) mass media, which mainly focuses on radio, television, and newspapers such as Radio Bíobío, Chilevision, and La Tercera newspaper, and (b) government policy, as articulated in the 2018 executive order “Plan Humanitarian Orderly Return” (PHOR). After delineating the historical background of recent Haitian migration to Chile, authors deploy Critical Discourses Analysis (CDA) of two powerful cases of popularly mediated racializing discourses reflected in media coverage of (a) the case of a Haitian woman, Joane Florvil, who died soon after taken into police custody on a wrongful charge of abandoning her infant in 2017 and (b) the racially inflected 2018 executive order PHOR which overwhelmingly targeted Haitians for “voluntary deportation”. Authors consider headlines, article coverage of institutional agents and minority subjects, and state-generated documents. Informed by postcolonial thought, the study discusses current expressions of racialized boundaries in the Chilean media focusing particularly on the disciplining and regulation of migrants based on the idea of order
Downloads
References
Ahumada, M. J. (2018, December 16). Piñera endurece el tono ante críticas por no suscribir pacto de migración (Piñera hardens his tone for criticism for not subscribing migrationpact). La Tercera. https://www.latercera.com/politica/noticia/pinera-endurece-tono-ante-criticas-no-suscribir-pacto-migracion/447709/
Alonso Belmonte, I., McCabe, A., & Chornet-Roses, D. (2010). In their own words: The construction of the image of the immigrant in Peninsular Spanish broadsheets and freesheets. Discourse & Communication, 4(3), 227-242.
Bartlett, L., Rodríguez, D., & Oliveira, G. (2015). Migration and education: Sociocultural perspectives. Educação e Pesquisa, 41, 1153-1171. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1517-9702201508144891
Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, text. Hill & Wang.
Bravo J. (2019). Mitos y realidad sobre el empleo migrante en Chile [Myths and reality about migrant employment in Chile]. In V. Rojas & J. Vicuña (Orgs.), Migración en Chile: Evidencia y mitos sobre una nueva realidad [Migration in Chile: Evidence and Myths about a new reality](pp. 57-69). LOM.
CENSO. (2018). International migration. Synthesis of results. National statistic of results. INE.
CEPAL/OIT. (2017). The labor immigration in Latin American. CEPAL/OIT.
Coraggio, J. L. (1999). It is possible to think choices to the neoliberal social policies? Nueva Sociedad, 164, 95-105.
Coulange M., S., & Torre C., E. (2020). Estrategias de familias migrantes haitianas para sus hijos ante las políticas antiinmigrantes de República Dominicana [Strategies of Haitian migrant families for their children in the face of the anti-immigrant policies of the Dominican Republic]. Migraciones Internacionales, 11, art 6.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analyzing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Psychology Press.
Fassin, D. (2011). Policing borders, producing boundaries. The governmentality of immigration in dark times. Annual Review of Anthropology, 40, 213-226.
Fiske, J. (2004). Reading television. Routledge.
Delgado, F. (2017, October 3). El Sentido poema de un médico haitiano en homenaje a su compatriota fallecida en Chile [The heartfelt poem of a Haitian doctor in tribute to his compatriot who passed away in Chile]. BioBioChile. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/region-metropolitana/2017/10/03/el-sentido-poema-de-un-medico-haitiano-en-homenaje-a-su-compatriota-fallecida-en-chile.shtml
James, C. L. R. (1989). The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo revolution. Vintange.
Jørgensen, M. W., & Phillips, L. J. (2002). Critical discourse analysis. Discourse.
INE. (2019). Estimation of foreigners living in Chile INE.
Interior Minister. (2018). Reforma Migratoria y Política Nacional de Migraciones y Extranjería [Migratory reform and national policy of migration and foreing]. Interior Minister.
Lowe, L. (2015). The intimacies of four continents. Duke University Press.
McCarthy, C., & Dimitraidis, J. (2005). Governmentality and the sociology of education. In C. McCarthy, & W. Crichlow (Eds.), Race, identity, and representation in education (pp. 321-335). Routledge.
McCarthy, C., Meecham, S., Wilson-Brown, C., Rodriguez, A., David, S., Godina, H., & Supriya, K. E. (1998). Danger in the safety zone: Notes on race, resentment, and the discourse of crime, violence, and suburban security. Taylor and Francis. https://doi-org.proxy2.library.illinois.edu/10.4324/978042949806
Muñoz, A. (2018, November 18). Cadem: 85% de los chilenos apoya el plan de retorno para inmigrantes impulsado por el Gobierno [Cadem: 85% of Chileans support the return plan for immigrants led by the government]. Bíobío Radio. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/chile/2018/11/12/cadem-85-de-los-chilenos-apoyo-el-plan-de-retorno-para-inmigrantes-impulsado-por-el-gobierno.shtml
Navarrete, M. (2018, November 7). Aqui no hay vida [There is not life here]. La Tercera. https://www.latercera.com/nacional/noticia/haitiano-regresa-pais-mediante-plan-humanitario-aqui-no-vida/390604 /
Quijano, A. (2000). Coloniality of power, eurocentrism, and Latin America. Duke University Press.
Reyes, V. (2018, December 15). Piñera acusa‘desorden migratorio alarmante’ en gestión de Bachelet y subraya que pondrá orden a eso [Pinera accuse of alarming migratory disorder during Bachelet government and his underscores that he will put order about it]. Biobío Radio. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/chile/2018/12/15/pinera-acusa-desorden-migratorio-alarmante-en-gestion-de-bachelet-y-subraya-que-pondra-orden-a-eso.shtml
Riedemann, A., & Stefoni, C. (2015). On racism, its denial and the consequences for anti-racist education in Chilean secondary education. Polis, 42, [online]*.
Rojas, P., & Koechlin (2017). Migración haitiana hacia Chile: Origen y aterrizaje de nuevos proyectos migratorios [Haitian migration to Chile: Origin and landing of new migration projects]. In J. Rojas & J. Koechlin (Eds.), Migración haitiana hacia el sur andino. Universidad Alberto Hurtado.
Tijoux, M. E. & Palominos, S. (2015). Theoretical approaches to the study of racialization and sexualisation processes in migratory phenomena in Chile. Polis, 42, 247-275.
Todorov, T. (1982). The conquest of America: The question of the other. Harper and Collins
UNHCR. (2015, November 3). I am here, I belong: The urgent need to end childhood statelessness. UNHCR.
Valenzuela, P., Riveros, K., Palomo, N., Araya, I., Campos, B., Salazar, C., & Tavie, C. (2014). Integración laboral de los inmigrantes haitianos, dominicanos y colombianos en Santiago de Chile [Labor integration of Haitian, Dominican and Colombian immigrants in Santiago de Chile]. Antropologías del Sur, 1(2), 101-121.
Van Dijk, T. (2012). The role of the press in the reproduction of racism. In M. Messer, R. Schroeder, & R. Wodak (Eds.), Migrations: Interdisciplinary perspectives (p. 35-49). Springer.
Vera, D. (2018, November 4). Regreso ordenado: Gobierno confirmó que este miércoles despega primer avión a Haití [Orderly return: Govenment confirmed that first airplane to Haiti will departure next Wednesday]. Biobío Radio. https://www.biobiochile.cl/noticias/nacional/chile/2018/11/04/regreso-ordenado-gobierno-confirmo-que-este-miercoles-despega-primer-avion-a-haiti.shtml
Wallerstien, E, (2004). The modern world-system as a capitalist world-economy. In J. Boli, & F. J. Lechner (Eds.). The globalization reader (pp. 56-62). Blackwell.
Williams, E. (1944/1994). Capitalism and slavery. University of North Carolina.
Williams, R. (1985). Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society. Oxford University Press
Wooffitt, R. (2005). Conversation analysis and discourse analysis: A comparative and critical introduction. Sage.