National initiative addressed migration history and the "Chinese malls" phenomenon, seeking to foster informed dialogue and reduce stereotypes about the Chinese community.
With total participation of more than 300 people, Millennium Nucleus Impacts of China in Latin America and the Caribbean (ICLAC) concluded its cycle of workshops "Getting to Know China from Chile". The initiative was deployed in key regions of the country, such as Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá and Ñuble, to bring academic research closer to local communities' daily experiences.
The workshops, directed at teachers, students, parents, and neighbors, offered a comprehensive view that covered both Chinese migration history and the "Chinese malls" phenomenon. This project responds to a context where China is Chile's main commercial partner and interaction with its community is increasingly frequent, but often accompanied by ignorance about this community's characteristics and history.
"In all high schools, I asked if anyone had never been to a Chinese mall and, of more than 160 people, nobody raised their hand," relates María Elvira Ríos, ICLAC researcher who led workshops in Ñuble. "This demonstrates the deep connection with this phenomenon. A duality is observed: on one hand, access to cheap and varied products that solve life in smaller localities is valued, but on the other, concerns arise about pollution, labor conditions, or lack of receipts. Our objective was precisely to open space to talk about these complexities," she added.
"We were very struck by the spontaneity with which the participants approached the topic, especially when sharing their own experiences and family memories linked to the Chinese presence in the cities of Arica and Iquique. We were surprised to see how everyone had some type of memory related to Chinese communities, whether through commerce, gastronomy and even aspects of the educational sphere," commented Amalia Rojas and Patricia Palma.
The workshops were led by University of Tarapacá academic Patricia Palma, along with Amalia Rojas and Antonia Luardo in the north, and researcher María Elvira Ríos in the Ñuble region, who confirmed the high interest of communities in understanding a phenomenon that is part of their daily lives.
The next stage of this project contemplates carrying out these same workshops, but online, to reach the greatest number of people and sectors possible. The Millennium Nucleus ICLAC invites any person or institution interested in this workshop to write directly to comunicaciones.iclac@gmail.com comunicaciones.iclac@gmail.com for more information.
The Millennium Nucleus ICLAC is an interdisciplinary center of excellence, funded by the National Research and Development Agency (ANID), dedicated to analyzing in depth the political, economic, social and cultural consequences of China's growing role as a global actor in Latin America.