Learning Spanish, silencing Haitian Creole: everyday linguistic practices and migrant otherness in a school in northern Chile.

Currently, migration flows in Chile are undergoing significant transformations. Whereas immigration has historically been predominantly regional, mainly from neighbouring countries such as Peru and Bolivia, recent years have seen the growth of Caribbean migration, particularly from Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. The arrival of these racialised migrant groups has generated new ways of producing social difference and otherness, in which Haiti occupies a distinctive position due to linguistic difference. Despite the increase in the Haitian student population in Chilean schools, there is no national educational policy specifically addressing Spanish language learning for this group. Existing language support initiatives remain fragmented and localised, offered only by some schools, municipalities, or universities, and are largely oriented towards adult learners rather than children (Berríos Arenas, 2025).

Based on findings from my doctoral research, completed in 2024, which sought to understand the production of migrant otherness in a primary school in northern Chile, this presentation will focus on the everyday use of Haitian Creole in educational settings. I will also show how Chilean teachers and students engage with the “linguistic repertoires” (Blommaert and Backus, 2013) of Haitian students.

In the school studied, some Haitian students were bilingual, while others were still learning Spanish. Bilingual students frequently used Creole to support peers with limited Spanish proficiency and to create spaces of intimacy and solidarity among Haitian classmates. At the same time, Chilean students often excluded those who did not speak Spanish, alluding communication barriers. Teachers also tended to restrict the use of Creole, framing it as inappropriate, unintelligible, or detrimental to Spanish acquisition. In this way, Creole was constructed as a problematic or illegitimate language within the classroom. Conversely, when Haitian students adopted Spanish as their primary means of communication, teachers frequently interpreted this shift as evidence of successful integration and Chileanisation. I argue that the regulation of Haitian Creole in the school functions as a mechanism through which linguistic hierarchies are enforced and migrant difference is racialised and disciplined in everyday school practice.

Andrea Cortés Saavedra is a journalist and holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of Chile. She completed her doctorate at the Institute of Education, University College London, specialising in the sociology of childhood, the sociology of education, and migration studies. Her research has focused on processes of school conviviality in diverse educational settings, the production of migrant otherness in schools, and childhood studies. Currently, her research interests include the social studies of childhood, multimodal and media studies, school conviviality and intercultural processes in Chilean classrooms, and the role of language in multicultural educational contexts.

We look forward to an engaging seminar and hope that many of you will be able to attend.

You are warmly welcome!