Álvaro Daniel Espinoza Collao y Juan Carlos Araya González

This work analyzes certain historical legal practices associated with collective land ownership and the participation of local ethnic authorities, whose continuity in early property records shaped a distinctive land tenure system in the high Andean Aymara communities of the Tarapacá region in Chile. It argues for the recognition of an Aymara legal framework to address the prevalent indigenous property disputes in the area. The research draws on primary sources contained in historical archives, notarial documents, and property registrations in public records.

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Carolina Stefoni, Marcela Tapia, Matías Jaramillo y Menara Guizardi

This article examines how the Chilean print media framed the concepts of borders and migration in the Chilean context of the COVID Pandemic 2020-2021. We argue that the confinement measures and border closures not only tightened control over migrant mobility, but also reinforced the portrayal of migrants as outsiders to the social order of the nation-state. This narrative, in turn, became a new rationale for their rejection and expulsion. Through a content analysis of the print media, we address the case of the Pisiga-Colchane border crossing between Chile with Bolivia in the Tarapacá region. The study is based on a corpus of 330 news articles collected between March 11, 2020, and April 2021

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Nicolás Gissi y Hedilberto Aguilar

Migrants in Santiago, originating from Latin American and Caribbean countries, whether they settled in Santiago a decade ago or have arrived recently, have revitalized their religious practices amid a national public security crisis and growing post-pandemic social tensions. Participating in both Catholic parishes and evangelical churches, Venezuelans and Haitians have turned these places into “third spaces” between home and work, individual and state, where they engage in community action within their neighborhoods. Through these gatherings, they create shared material and symbolic resources, all while aware of the rising xenophobia and racial prejudice from locals, who increasingly view migrant assemblies with suspicion. Using a qualitative approach, the study examines interactions, narratives, and practices in both peripheral and central urban churches, revealing the predominant social dynamics in contemporary Chilean society, marked by growing multiculturalism and exercise of effective citizenship in the struggle for recognition. Negative portrayals and narratives from the state and media are challenged through a more egalitarian, autonomous, and sacred framework, fostering social inclusion and enhancing local status.

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Bastián Tapia Sánchez

This article examines love as a political device that regulates desire and gender relations within the framework of late capitalism, expressed through complex cultural narratives about romantic relationships. In the Chilean context, the historical development of homosexual relationships, from legal repression to gradual visibility, highlights the interplay between love, identity, and politics. Adopting a qualitative ethnographic approach, the study explores the experiences of young homosexual and bisexual individuals in Arica, Chile, emphasizing how family, first love, and “coming out of the closet” serve as significant milestones in the construction of their sexual and gender identities. The analysis focuses on the tensions between heteronormative mandates and personal experiences, shedding light on how these dynamics shape affective and sexual trajectories.

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