Development of intergroup friendships in indigenous and non-indigenous School contexts in Chile

This work is based on a major research initiative conducted jointly by the Interdisciplinary Center for Intercultural and Indigenous Studies (ICIIS) and the Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies (COES), along with academics from the University of Massachusetts. The main purpose of this study is to understand the dynamics of friendship relations among Mapuche and non-indigenous Chilean children and adolescents in the school context. To do this, a four-year longitudinal study is being implemented over more than a thousand students in primary and secondary education, men and women, belonging to thirty establishments from various communes of the Metropolitan and Araucanía Region. The measurement involves the use of a written survey completely confidential, in which students besides answering a questionnaire on various aspects of intergroup friendship -for example friendship between non-indigenous and Mapuche students- they are asked to fill out a sociogram to analyze friendship networks within the class. It was found that there are friendly relations among Chilean non-indigenous and Mapuche children, where Mapuche children declare greater close relations than the one declared by non-indigenous children. In addition, the development of friendly relations depends on the rules of social interaction they perceive in their peers and at school. For example, while non-indigenous Chilean children perceive that their Chilean counterparts want them to develop friendship with Mapuche children, they feel more comfortable and more interested in developing intercultural friendships. A similar result was found in the case of the Mapuche students. In other words, perceived peer norms positively influence the development of intergroup friendship between Chilean non-indigenous and Mapuche children. In other words, rules of social interaction perceived on peers influence positively the development of intergroup friendship between Chilean non-indigenous and Mapuche children. On the other side, a similar but weaker influence was found on the perceived school rules of social interaction. This has very valuable educational implications, because all educational establishments provide a meeting place, contributing to social cohesion. Guided by principals, teachers and other members of the school system, it is possible to generate educational strategies, teaching and assessment activities that promote the development of positive rules of social interaction between different groups of students that coexist at primary and secondary levels of education.