Jerarquías, asimilacionismo y resistencias: Experiencias migratorias en el campo escolar del Norte Grande de Chile

Abstract

This article is based on two qualitative studies conducted in two cities in northern Chile, aimed to identify and describe the discourses on migrant families and students that exist in the educational context. To do this, the authors use and articulate two theoretical currents: the concept of coloniality of power coined and developed by Anibal Quijano in conjunction with Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social practice. Grounded on the analysis and linking of the data from both studies, the article suggests that the discourses produced about migrant families are related with a hierarchy according to their national origin. Likewise, these social hierarchies are reproduced as a form of racism, and as a process of assimilationism both from families and schools, framed in a logic of internal colonialism. However, it is also possible to observe some resistance strategies of migrant families as a way of responding to these discourses.