OSPSANTG 66: Migration and Belonging: Race, Mobility, and Identity in Chile and Latin America

Instructor: Chan, Carol

Migration has shaped societies across history—yet it is often treated as exceptional, challenging dominant ideas about who belongs, who stays, and who moves. Using Chile as a primary case within Latin America, this course explores migration, diversity, and racialization as lived and contested social processes. Chile is now one of South America’s main migrant destinations, making it a unique setting to examine how migration reshapes identities, communities, and public debates in real time. We might intuitively know what a “migrant” is shorthand for in U.S. contexts—but who are “migrants” in South America? How are difference and belonging understood in places where migrants and citizens often share language, histories, and cultural practices? When does mobility become visible, politicized, or stigmatized? Through fieldwork, participant observation, and engagement with local communities, organizations, and policy actors, students will go beyond the classroom to analyze migration as it unfolds on the ground. Class sessions combine key concepts, case studies across Latin America, and in-class debates with hands-on experiences in Santiago. By the end of the course, students will be able to critically examine migration across contexts, connect theory with real-world dynamics, and reflect on how migration shapes inequality, identity, and belonging across the Americas—including in relation to debates in the United States.

Units: 5 | Grading Basis: Letter grade | Component: Seminar
Category: Electives

*All courses are subject to change.