Migrant Bodies: Imaginaries and Agencies of Women and Queer Youth in School

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782024000300045

Keywords:

Migration, Body image, Sexuality, Stareotypes, Education

Abstract

The increase of Latin American and Caribbean migrant students in Chilean schools raises a developing interest in understanding the intersection between migration, sexuality and the body in educational settings. Previous studies suggest that the school communities often perceive migrant students as hypersexualised in terms of their behaviours and sex-affective relationships, which is linked to processes of racialisation and sexualisation of their bodies. This article explores the imaginaries and agencies related to body image among adolescent girls and queer migrants in an all-girls high school in Santiago, Chile. Based on in-depth interviews and focus groups with adolescents in their final year of high school, the results show that body image is an area of contradiction for the students. While confronted with dominant beauty standards, they strive for a healthy relationship with their bodies and self-love. These challenges are exacerbated for adolescent migrants due to the body images associated with their countries of origin. However, feminist beliefs act as a protective factor and the school, as a feminised institution, becomes a safe space for deconstructing body stereotypes.

Author Biography

Karen Ibáñez Riquelme, University of Southampton

Antropóloga social por la Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile, y tiene un Máster de Investigación en Educación por la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Actualmente, cursa un Doctorado en Educación en la University of Southampton, Reino Unido, donde también es miembro y asistente de investigación en proyectos relacionados con el Centre for Research in Inclusion. Con más de seis años de experiencia en investigación cualitativa, Karen ha trabajado en estudios sobre migración, inclusión y sexualidades en contextos educativos. Antes de comenzar su doctorado, su trabajo más reciente fue en el área de evaluación educativa para el acceso a la Educación Superior. Su proyecto doctoral se centra en la construcción de subjetividades sexuales y de género en aulas interculturales en Chile, reflejando su interés por los aspectos sociales y culturales de la educación.

Published

2024-10-04

How to Cite

Ibáñez Riquelme, K. (2024). Migrant Bodies: Imaginaries and Agencies of Women and Queer Youth in School. Revista Latinoamericana De Educación Inclusiva - Latin American Journal of Inclusive Educatio, 18(extraordinario), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-73782024000300045