BEING HAITIAN IN VALDIVIA: CONSTRUCTION OF THE MIGRANT IDENTITY

Abstract

This research sought to know the reality of the Haitians in our city and their integration into the Valdivian community. Our research question was “What are the linguistic resources that account for the elements with which Haitians construct their immigrant identity in Valdivia?” We designed an exploratory study in which we conducted semi-structured interviews that were transcribed and coded based on the Functional Systemic Linguistics assessment model. This model makes it possible to identify the linguistic resources with which people build their identity in language. We complement the interpretation with content analysis. We found that the resources with which Haitian immigrants build their identity refer to discrimination, work environment / studies, family / friends, country of origin, improvement, country of arrival. These results show that effectively being an immigrant is not only getting to settle in another place, but integrating into a community is also related to incorporating the customs that they bring from their country to the place of arrival. In this way, we discovered that Haitians have a feeling of belonging to Valdivia, Chile, which integrates them into our community. This means that integration is possible for a harmonious coexistence between Haitians and Chileans.