Testimonios From First-Generation Indigenous Students in the Chilean Higher Education Context

• In Event: 67.070 - Sheraton Roundtable 14 - Grand Centre
  In Roundtable Session: 67.070-1 - International and Comparative Student Success in Higher Education

Abstract

The topic of this study was first-generation Indigenous university students (FGIUS) in Chilean higher education context. We explored how those experiences influenced their continued enrollment in universities in Chile. A phenomenological approach was used to describe the testimonios of the participants. Through semi-structured interviews (Seidman, 2013), six Mapuche students were interviewed. Mapuches are the largest Indigenous group in the country. Interviewed FGIUS in Chilean universities described university and social networks (family and otherwise) that seemed limited in their disposition or knowledge regarding how to assist. In addition, the participants’ experiences illuminate how indigenous identity at overwhelmingly non-indigenous institutions of higher education make the sensing of discrepancies between school and home even more acute.

Author

• Andrea Flanagan-Borquez, Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile