Peruvian Immigration to Chile: Racism and the Deskilling of Female Transnational Workers

Historically Chile has been a country of emigrants rather than a country of immigration. There are around one million Chileans living abroad. However, in the last decades immigration to Chile has accelerated.  Immigrants from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, China and Korea confront a hostile and racist society.  The largest of these groups is formed by Peruvian migrants.  About 130000 Peruvians live today in Chile.  Of these, 60% are women, many of whom end up working as domestic servants.  Peruvians have become a large group among domestic laborers, in particular as live-in domestics.  Although the levels of education of Peruvians are higher than those of Chileans, they are consistently pressed into low paid work with little protection.  By using a netnographic methodology I investigate how racism, that has historically casted mestizo Chilean women in the role of  ‘nanas’, today streams Peruvian women into the homes of wealthier families as domestics, regardless of the levels of education and skills they bring with them at the time of immigration.