LIVING UNCERTAIN CITIZENSHIP: EVERYDAY PRACTICES OF BOLIVIAN MIGRANTS IN CHILE.

Abstract

This thesis examines the everyday citizenship practices of Bolivian migrants in Chile, and the ways in which migrant organisations influence these practices. It contributes to a growing body of literature that comprehends citizenship as both formal and substantive and is interested in migrants’ incorporation within these different spheres. It is also situated within the incipient scholarship on South-South migration, and is among the first qualitative studies to address Bolivian migration to Chile. Bolivians conform one of the larger groups in an increasing migration flow to Chile, and are thought to be one of the most vulnerable. To date, however, there has been little that analyses their experiences in depth. Working across space and scale, nine months of multi-sited ethnographic research aimed to begin to fill this knowledge gap. Throughout five sites in Chile and Bolivia, participant observation was undertaken with migrant organisations, at community events, and in migrants’ homes. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 60 migrant participants, and sixteen representatives of migrant organisations and the state. Empirically, the project indicates that many Bolivians in Chile endure multiple exclusions from citizenship. These occur transnationally and are caused by varied structural, but also agentic, factors. The intersectional approach taken underscores the social identities that make exclusions more likely. Nevertheless, through engaging in varied citizenship practices, often with support from organisations, migrants are able to achieve greater inclusion. Conceptually, the thesis develops the idea of overlapping, fluid transnational spaces of citizenship, which represent its legal, economic, social, and political dimensions. They are produced through interrelations between processes from above, individual practices from below, and actions of migrant organisations. Migrants may be inside and outside different spaces of citizenship simultaneously. Those who live a complex array of inclusions and exclusions experience uncertain citizenship, the other core concept advanced in this work.