No. 51 (2023)
Articles

Between discrimination and solidarity: the strategic construction of identity among Venezuelan migrants in Quito, Ecuador

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  • Jorge Mantilla
Jorge Mantilla
University of Otavalo. Otavalo. Ecuador

Published 2023-12-04

Keywords

  • Migration,
  • Identity,
  • Venezuela,
  • Ecuador

Copyright (c) 2023 Jorge Mantilla

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Mantilla, J. (2023). Between discrimination and solidarity: the strategic construction of identity among Venezuelan migrants in Quito, Ecuador. Revista Sarance, 51, 84-104. https://doi.org/10.51306/ioasarance.051.05

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Abstract

The Venezuelan diaspora has become a very influential phenomenon in Latin America. In the social sciences, an important corpus of literature has portrayed these migrant groups as a homogeneous collective, labeled based on their nationality.  Similar approaches are present in political and mediatic narratives. This paper questions said point of view, presenting a qualitative analysis of the process by which a group of Venezuelan migrants in Quito, Ecuador, build their identities. The results show that migrant identities are dynamic, open, and strategic. In spaces characterized by discrimination and xenophobia, identity narratives are mostly associated with ethical and class parameters. Meanwhile, national identity is emphasized in situations in which it can be used to mobilize different forms of capital. This way of understanding identity emphasizes migrants’ agency and proposes an alternative to rethink the viewpoint from which social sciences have addressed international migration. 

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