Paper short abstract:

In this paper I will present the process of sexualisation and racialisation of Colombian immigrants in the Chilean case. Through the analysis of media material from 2010 till the present, I will illustrate how the northern region of Chile has been represented as an “invaded space” by “black bodies”.

Paper long abstract:

The sustained increase of Latin American immigration in Chile over the last decade has led to a greater visibility of "black" people in everyday spaces. In this context, the emergence but also the updating of practices and discourses that racialised sexuality articulate the relevance of contemporary processes of racialisation / sexualisation with their historical anchor in colonial stereotypes. In this paper I will present the process of sexualisation and racialisation of Colombian immigrants in the Chilean case. Through the analysis of media material from 2010 till the present, I will illustrate how the northern region of Chile has been represented as an "invaded space" by "black bodies". I will argue that these representations are based in a hipersexualisation of the Colombians as "others" sexual available and I threat to social order. Notions of race and sexuality are used by the media and politicians to present migration as a "problem" for the control of borders.