The massive flow of Venezuelan migrants to different countries in South America and recently, to the United States, has generated a series of transformations that still need to be measured and understood. The demographic information gap makes it difficult to know the scope of the transformations that this exodus has had in Venezuelan society. The current mainstream suggests that this exodus has occurred due to the collapse of institutions and due to political or social violence (Herrera and Gómez, 2022). This presentation will offer a perspective that brings together the causes of the Venezuelan exodus within the framework of inequalities and social vulnerabilities that act as expelling forces. It will also offer, through a case study, the demographic, economic, and social disaster that this exodus has caused and how those who left and stayed in the country have lived and experienced it.
Watch the Webinar Recording
Download the Presentation Slides
Take the Evaluation
Presenters
Chelina Sepúlveda lives in Caracas, Venezuela and received her Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology and Ethnology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris). Sepúlveda is a professor of Sociology at the Central University of Venezuela. She is also a researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies (IDEA) for the area of Sociopolitical and Culture and her interest revolves around an ethnography of the popular classes.
Sepúlveda has developed qualitative research and ethnographic work in penitentiary institutions and in popular urban contexts.
Sepúlveda is currently developing a study on Venezuelan Migration from the context of origin that includes ethnographic work in a community in one of the popular neighborhoods of Caracas. As part of the research, she, and Marie Dault (French filmmaker) are doing an exercise in visual anthropology. This year they hope to start a qualitative research in Venezuelan communities in Colombian neighborhoods to explore the relationship between migration, violence, and insecurity.