Citizenship and Justice Climate in a Migrant Informal Settlement in Santiago, Chile

Abstract

The increase in migratory flows in Chile has transformed the way migrants inhabit the country’s cities. In fact, nearly 40% of households living in “campamentos” (self-built settlements) nationwide are of foreign origin. In these spaces, migrants often lack minimum living conditions, as their access to basic services such as drinking water and electricity is precarious. In a context where large areas of the country have been affected by prolonged droughts, heat waves, and extreme weather events, this article explores how migrants residing in self-built settlements collectively cope with housing precarity. Based on a twelve-month ethnographic study conducted in a self-built settlement in Santiago, we analyze how migrants’ demands for access to basic services constitute a collective practice of citizenship, anchored in a broader claim for climate justice. This article thus demonstrates that phenomena stemming from the climate crisis become catalysts for political demands among migrants. At the same time, it seeks to understand how claims for environmental justice enable the emergence of new forms of citizenship for migrant groups residing in Chile.