“When there’s something wrong, it’s the colour”

Translating race in Chile’s multilingual classrooms

Bibliographic Data

ID21244251
AuthorsMirona Moraru (0009-0007-9870-8531, Utrecht University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume10
Issue2
Pages236-254
Publication date2024-05-13
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTranslation and Translanguaging in Multilingual Contexts (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2352-1805 • E-ISSN: 2352-1813
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/ttmc.00135.mor
OpenAlexW4396871717
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited28

Haitian pupils challenge the homogenous and monolingual imaginary of the Chilean classroom primarily given their limited proficiency in Spanish and their skin colour. One bottom-up strategy implemented by some schools is the recruitment of a Haitian intercultural facilitator, whose aim is to offer linguistic and cultural support primarily through interpretation and translation. The main objective of the present article is to explore how Haitian intercultural facilitators mediate the intersection between language and race in emerging multilingual Chilean classrooms. In order to do so, the article analyses three in-depth interviews with Haitian intercultural facilitators employing the main conceptual tools offered by the model of linguistic production and circulation developed by the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. The main results outline that both Haitian pupils and Haitian intercultural facilitators go through a process of racialisation carried out by the rest of the school community. In turn, this affects how Haitian pupils are perceived and treated, as well as how Haitian facilitators can mediate the tensions emerging at the intersection between language and race. These findings represent novel insights into the complex but little explored multilingual schooling processes in the Global South

Art · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Migration, Education, Indigenous Social Dynamics · Philosophy

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