This article analyses the first narrative work of Amanda Labarca Hubertson, the novel En tierras extrañas (1915), in light of its context of production, tracing the racialist ideas that the author would develop further in her later essay Bases para una política educacional (1943). These ideas are heirs to a racial understanding of the challenges of education and nation in her time. The article develops in four stages. First, the aforementioned works, particularly her 1915 novel, are placed in their cultural and intellectual context of production. Then, the lines of continuity between the 1915 novel and its educational proposal of 1943 are described. Third, the reception of these works is examined based on the critical perspective of Tancredo Pinochet Le-Brun in 1944. Finally, we suggest a situated interpretation of the racialism in both works.