Defensa de la tesi doctoral de Daniela Poblete Godoy

Title: Migración y agencia de hombres haitianos en Chile. El cuidado y la autoridad de padre frente a nuevos mandatos de género

Abstract

The goal of this doctoral thesis is to study the changes that Haitian parents experience during their migratory career in Chile, identifying the factors that influence the social frames on childhood and their role in care. At the same time, the social frames underlying Chilean public policies that affect the experience of migrant men are analyzed. The methodological design is qualitative through participant observation, 12 biographical interviews with Haitian men, 41 in-depth interview professionals and volunteers who have worked with Haitian families, and five exploratory interviews with Haitian women. The perspective of transnational fathers with their families in Haiti is compared to fathers who reunited their families or started a new family project in Chile. The analysis of the results shows the crisis of male authority from the role of the head of the family and the father figure, which materializes in a series of ruptures related to religious understandings and the sexual division of labor. The ruptures, influenced by the absence of the women's care network, emerge as a new moral mandate, although without representing a questioning of the gender order. The results of the fieldwork show five factors that influence the change : (1) length of stay and stage of the migration project; (2) national and transnational faith and support networks; (3) migration regulations (4) women's participation in the paid labor market and (5) women's and children's protection laws. The thesis concludes with a reflection on the main challenges in public management that raise the attention of non-Spanish speaking migrant families in Chile, considering the consequences that male gender ruptures may have for women and dissent.