«Must be Chilote»: transnational migrant life in the Patagonian territories of Chile and Argentina

Abstract

This article presents new ethnographical information on milestones in the history of the transnational migration of Chilotes (inhabitants of Chiloe Island, southern Chile), from the 1950s up to the assemblages existing today in
different parts of Chilean and Argentinean Patagonia. In particular, we analyse stages in the development of mobility linked to the economic boom in these southern territories, highlighting sectors in which jobs were created on both
sides of the border. The preliminary results show how cultural connections are retained with places of origin and residence through the formation of communities, the circulation of goods, the extension of symbolic meanings and new inter-regional migratory trajectories. The methodology used was that of ethnographies in movement derived from circumstantial approaches in different locations in Chiloe and Patagonia between December 2015 and May 2017. The reflections in this work are a contribution to studies on human mobility in
southern Chile from multi-local perspectives that allow cultural continuities to be identified in the experience of migration.