“The Little store of feelings”: an ethnography about the circulation of Latin American goods in Osorno, Chile (2020-2023)

Abstract

This article presents ethnographic findings on the circulation of Latin American goods in Osorno, Chile, driven by entrepreneurial ventures recently established by migrants in various commercial sectors. These businesses can be understood as Pymes of nostalgia—small and medium enterprises rooted in emotional ties to the homeland. While the circulation of such goods reflects economic exchanges across global scales, it is also closely linked to emotions stirred by nostalgia, namely the longing for one’s native land or terruño. The findings show that the consumption of these goods forms part of a transnational process in which migrants adapt to new places of settlement. This process involves a cultural dimension of emotion that inspires creative strategies such as collective action, community formation, and the redefinition of the notion of home in their new contexts. These cultural phenomena point to emerging horizons in anthropological research, particularly as they unfold within subnational spaces in Chile—such as the Los Lagos Region and, specifically, the city of Osorno—which are increasingly recognized as sites of incorporation for subjects, objects, and lives in motion.