Crafting Affect through Memory: Venezuelan Narratives of Belonging and Exclusion in Chile

The economic and political crisis in Venezuela has led to a large influx of Venezuelans living abroad, and Chile is a significant receiving country. By analyzing ethnographic interview data as well as literature on the meanings of home and belonging, I argue that the element of loss experienced by many Venezuelan emigrants and everyday exclusions in Chile combine in narratives highlighting longing, uncertainty, and alienation. Venezuelan migrants articulate a duality between wanting to return to the country that cannot provide a home for them and being excluded in the country that can provide a home for them. As a result, ideas of home and belonging juxtapose their experiences in Chile