Pietro Guillermo Montagna Letelier

This engaged research project explores the experiences of wellbeing and suffering among Haitian children and adolescents living in Santiago, Chile, particularly those who participate in Fundación Frè, a non-profit organization that supports the Haitian diaspora. The project is led by Pietro Montagna-Letelier in collaboration with co-researchers Peterson Saintard, Lilian Falcón, and Ralph Jean Baptiste, and with Milarica Delsoin as community facilitator. Developed in close collaboration Frè and the grassroots collective Reyalite, the project builds on long-standing relationships and ethnographic work. The project seeks to co-produce knowledge and action through participatory and arts-based methods, positioning young migrants not merely as subjects of research, but as co-researchers, co-analysts, and co-creators. The research unfolds through a participatory diagnostic and four co-designed workshops: Afro Dance, Creative Storytelling, Historical Memory, and Theater. These spaces will serve both as field sites and platforms for collective reflection and expression, generating performative, visual, and written outputs that reflect the aspirations, identities, and challenges of Haitian youth in Chile. Combining collaborative ethnography with decolonial and feminist frameworks, the project aims to influence institutional practices at Frè and to contribute to broader academic and public conversations on migration, childhood, and care. At its core, the project is an effort to imagine and enact alternative futures grounded in solidarity, creativity, and justice.