Citizenship education policies and immigration in Chile. A dispositive analysis

Abstract

In several countries where immigration influxes have changed or increased, citizenship education policies have been strengthened as a way to build social cohesion. In this paper, I took the case of Chile to explore citizenship education policies throughout their references towards immigration. Methodologically, I use the Foucauldian notion of dispositive as an analytical tool to explore the knowledge-power network that shapes citizenship education. I took samples of public opinions, educational documents and reports, and legal documents as part of the heterogeneity that shape the dispositive. These samples come from Chilean magazines, newspapers, and documents released by educational institutions as well as laws. Findings indicate that, if viewed from how it references immigration, the dispositive of citizen education in Chile works as a managerial dispositive of cultural differences; one that places immigrants themselves as commodities. In current neoliberal times, where capitalism multiplies differences and produces cultural commodities, citizenship education works as a technique of governing at a distance to administrate such differences.