Cadena de favores y pagos: relaciones de endeudamiento transnacional de la población haitiana residente en Quilicura, Santiago de Chile

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to explore the formal and informal indebtedness relationships that Haitian migrants engage during their migration trajectory in Chile. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2019 in the commune of Quilicura and a series of sixteen interviews with Haitian migrants, we explore formal and informal debt relations from an ecological and moral perspective. The main results show the relevance of aid relationships among the Haitian community, which take the form of a chain of favors that commits the recipient’s word and does not seek repayment of the amount owed. In turn, involvement in formal indebtedness is interrelated with informal indebtedness, in that the Haitian community’s experiences with the credit market materialize in common knowledge that circulates in the community, as well as in the learning that enables them to understand the opportunities and risks of these formal credit systems. It is worth noting that few texts have analyzed migrant indebtedness from an ecological perspective that includes the transnational dimension and understands the formal and informal interrelationship of these processes.

Keywords

• ecological approach
• haitian migration
• indebtedness
• moral economy
• support networks