Cross-Border Care in the Global South

In borders areas between Chile and Bolivia there is a movement of Bolivian domestic workers coming and going that has been categorized by social science as circular migration or mobility. Their job is to perform care work in Chile, a country that lacks sufficient public policies aimed at caring for both children and the elderly. Circular mobility is possible thanks to the geographical proximity and bilateral agreements between both countries. Although there are legal tools to obtain a visa that would allow them to settle in the country and work legally, many Bolivian women opt for permanent circular mobility, which implies highly precarious work without adequate protection. In this context, cross-border care work takes on particular characteristics, highly precarious and racialized. Despite the precarious conditions, Bolivian domestic workers remain in these jobs, caring for children who are not their own, transferring affection and attention, in a structural framework of discrimination, domination and inferiorization, anchored in colonial practices of servility and racialization.