Peruvian immigrants in Santiago. A day to day art of struggle for life

Abstract

Human migration is a change of residence that affects mainly those individuals that live it, but also  the countries and regions that they leave the ones where they arrive.  It is a complex and multidimensional phenomenon  hard to study for its retrospective character that obliges us to examine it after the act of departure.  We know that it is caused by  political, religious, social and economic crisis, that there are many factors that explain it and that the globalization process of recent years has impacted strongly in the phenomenon.  But in what matters to us -a comprehensive reflection from the social sciences- we have preferred to stop, in order to don’t lose sight, and through that not to lose-the-view, in the day to day consequences (still incomplete)  that has for  peruvian immigrants the fact of living and working in Santiago of Chile.  Why do they come?  How do they solve their situation?  What links do they maintain with their families, towns, friends?  How they have been received?  How are their working histories?  Have they managed to get accustomed?  Do they plan to remain in Chile or do they desire to return to Peru?  Trying to respond to these questions, the present work desires to contribute to this analysis from fragments of a study that we are pursuing.  We think that it can help to bring to light their experiences and to build new approaches and methodologies of scientific investigation that will help their existence be dignified and their links with Chile be built in a less violent manner.