Immigration to Chile in a regional context.

Abstract

Editors' Note: The vast majority of psychological research on immigrants has focused on North America and Europe. Salas Schweikart and Hendricks go against this trend, first by comparing migration trends in the Global South with those in the Global North and second by examining immigrants in Chile in a regional context (most immigrants to Chile are from neighboring Latin American countries). The discussion reflects different layers of an increasingly diverse Chilean society, with the Indigenous Chilean population (e.g., the Mapuche) as the longest established but lowest status group. The long shadow of colonial traditions and values continues to influence the treatment of immigrants, depending on their perceived ethnicity and cultural similarity to the Indigenous Chileans. This discussion relates to Chapter 14 by Hopner and colleagues, who describe the discrimination against New Zealand immigrants of Indigenous origin in Australia.