“Rediscovering” Brazil? A Qualitative Study of Highly-Skilled Portuguese Immigration in Brazil in the Twenty-First Century By Maria Luana Gama Gato Brazil always excites the imagination of those who behold it. The intensity of the light, the brightness of the color, the richness of the vegetation, the vastness of the landscape, the beauty of the people combine to make a seductive sight few have been able to resist. The alternating simplicity and complexity of the land and its inhabitants further intrigue any who delve even shallowly beneath that alluring surface. (Burns, 1980) Cover photo by the author: An afternoon on Ipanema beach with flags of Portugal and Brazil adorning a beach shack during the FIFA World Cup “Rediscovering” Brazil? A Qualitative Study of Highly-Skilled Portuguese Immigration in Brazil in the Twenty-First Century Author: Maria Luana Gama Gato Student No: 3058077 Supervisor: Master Thesis in Human Geography Dr. Olivier T. Kramsch Specialization in Department of Human Geography Migration, Globalization, and Development Nijmegen School of Management Nijmegen School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University Nijmegen Contact: [email protected] Acknowledgements I started studying Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies in 2008 out of interest for different cultures and how they interact with each other. Truth be told, I was really just curious as to why we just seem to be unable to perceive others (or ‘the Other’) as simply humans; why we emphasize the differences between us instead of the similarities; why there even is an us-they dichotomy. Years of studies increased my interest in inequality and injustice. My bachelor’s thesis dealt with public space management in Mexico City, and I decided to do a master’s in Human Geography, with a focus on Globalization, Migration and Development. I started in 2012, finished my courses, wrote my proposal, left for Brazil to research mega-event led evections, and came back – heart-broken, but mostly insecure about all the choices I had made in the past five years. This thesis is the result of a second research project, a second research proposal, and a second fieldwork experience in Rio de Janeiro – all within an 18 month timeframe. It is also a very personal piece that has brought me closer to my roots and the cultures that have formed me. It has taught me so much more than all the theories, topics, approaches, methods, perspectives, and dimensions I have studied during all my university classes. It has formed a bridge between my ‘Portugueseness’, my ‘Brazilianness’, and my ‘Dutchness’. In a way, this thesis is me. It would not have been possible without the immense help of my supervisor. Olivier, thank you so much for your unconditional support, for the kind words of encouragement, for the trust you put in me, and for our talks about Brazil and Latin America over coffee. And especially: thanks for “sticking with me” to help me finish this master’s “on whatever topic I’d choose”. Thank you for remembering me that people like us “build bridges”. I cannot even imagine having done this work without your contribution and personal knowledge of how it feels to be a little bit of everything. Thanks to all my respondents in Rio de Janeiro: those who replied to my messages on social media and those who even indicated other friends. I hope you enjoyed participating, and I most certainly hope the results in this thesis match your expectations and experiences in Brazil. Valeu pela força! To my Mom and my sister: thanks for the support, especially during the difficult moments of this very long process. Moek, I hope this thesis makes you proud of having raised us “like nomads”: I certainly am, and I would not change a thing about our history! Zusje, my personal designer: thanks for the technical support at the end! To my co-workers at the University Sports Centre (USC): een grote thanks for 4.5 years of countless hours at the reception, good nights out in town, and good laughs at the reception. Thanks for the studying in the back-office during exam weeks, for covering my shifts in the last weeks of this thesis, and, of course, for warmly welcoming me back this year after extensive goodbye sessions. I hope you all know you have made my time in Nijmegen so much more interesting! To my Brazilian friends in Nijmegen – thank you for creating a Little Brazil in the Netherlands! Ana, a special ‘thank you’ for being such a good friend in difficult times. To my friends in Brazil – especially Roberto, Maitê, and Douglas – thanks for the support during my two stays in Brazil in the past 1.5 year. Vocês são show e a Lapa nos espera! III “O Tempo só anda de ida. A gente nasce, cresce, envelhece e morre. Pra não morrer É só amarrar o Tempo no Poste. Eis a ciência da poesia: Amarrar o Tempo no Poste!” Manoel de Barros “Não tenho sentimento nenhum politico ou social. Tenho, porém, num sentido, um alto sentimento patriotico. Minha patria é a lingua portuguesa.” Fernando Pessoa Table of Contents Acknowledgements III List of Tables VIII List of Figures VIII Acronyms VIII 1. Introduction 1 1.1 International Migration: Numbers & Flows 1 1.2 Relevance 3 1.2.1 Scientific Relevance 3 1.2.2 Societal Relevance 4 1.3 Research Objective & Question 4 1.3.1 Research Objective 4 1.3.2 Research Question 5 1.4 Outline of the Thesis 5 2. Theoretical Framework 6 2.1 Economic Theories 6 2.1.1 Neoclassical Economics 6 2.1.2 New Economics of Labor Migration 7 2.1.3 Dual Labor Market Theory 8 2.1.4 The Shortcomings of Economics 8 2.2 Migration Systems Approach 9 2.2.1 Linkages in Migration Systems 11 2.3 The Lusophone Migration System 13 2.4 On Migration in the Information Age 15 3. Methodology 17 3.1 Qualitative Research 17 3.2 Case Study Design 18 3.3 Research Methods 19 3.3.1 Literature Review 20 3.3.2 Qualitative Interviews 20 3.4 Sampling 21 3.4.1 Conducting the Interviews 22 3.4.2 On The Role of Social Media in Migration Research 23 3.5 Data Analysis 24 VI 4. The Historical Roots of Luso-Brazilian Relations 26 4.1 The Portuguese Empire: 1415 – 1999 26 4.1.1 Colonial Brazil: 1500 – 1822 28 4.2 Luso-Brazilian Relations in the Twentieth Century 31 4.2.1 Some Preliminary Remarks 31 4.2.2 Diplomatic Relations 32 4.2.3 Treaties, Agreements, Exceptions: the Portuguese in Brazil from the 50s onwards 36 4.3 Lusofonia 38 4.3.1 The Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries 40 5. International Migration in/between Portugal and Brazil 43 5.1 Brazil: the Reflection of Centuries of International Migration 43 5.2 Portugal: Emigration from the Country that “Invented Globalization” 45 5.2.1 (Brazilian) Immigration in Portugal 48 5.3 Portuguese Emigration in the light of the Global Economic Crisis 49 5.4 Mass Cultural Connections between Portugal and Brazil 51 5.4.1 Soap Operas, Music, and News: Bits and Pieces of Brazil in Portugal 51 5.5 Regulatory Linkages: Governing Immigration in Brazil 54 5.5.1 Profiling the Highly-Skilled Portuguese Immigrant 57 6. Findings 60 6.1 General Respondents’ Characteristics 60 6.1.1 Economic Crisis 62 6.1.2 International Experiences 62 6.1.3 Duration of Stay 64 6.1.4 Why Rio? 65 6.2 Cultural Connections 65 6.2.1 Brazilian Media & Culture in Portugal 65 6.2.2 Migrant Acceptance 67 6.3 Regulatory Linkages 69 6.3.1 Regulating Labor Migration 69 6.3.2 Acceptance of Labor Migrants: the Portuguese Experience 71 6.4 Analysis summary 74 7. Conclusion 76 References 78 Appendix A – Interview Guide I 85 Appendix B – Interview Guide II 87 Appendix C – Social Media ‘call’ 91 Appendix D - Abstract 92 VII List of Tables Table 1 Main migration corridors and global migrant share per pathway 2 Table 2 Main characteristics of the economic approaches to international migration 8 Table 3 Conceptual framework of linkages in a migration system 11 Table 4 List of codes used in the analysis 25 Table 5 Political development in Portugal and Brazil before and after Brazilian independence 32 Table 6 Portuguese immigration in Brazil (1500-1940) 47 Table 7 Portuguese emigration 2007-2013 58 Table 8 Respondents’ general characteristics 61 List of Figures Figure 1 Systems framework of international migration 10 Figure 2 Steps undertaken during the research. 19 Figure 3 Sampling of respondents through social media websites 22 Figure 4 Map of the Spanish and Portuguese explorations in the 15th and 16th century 27 Figure 5 The Lusophone imaginary at use during Salazar’s regime 39 Acronyms CPLP Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa DLMT Dual Labor Market Theory EU European Union IOM International Organization for Migration LMS Lusophone Migration System MPB Música Popular Brasileira MSA Migration Systems Approach NELM New Economics of Labor Migration PALOP Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa VIII “Rediscovering” Brazil? 1. Introduction Migration in the sense of human mobility is inherent to human kind. The exploration and subsequent colonization of the world by European states around the end of the Middle Ages served as a stimulus to the first significant waves of international migration of all kinds and numbersCastles ( & Miller, 2009, p. 79). Despite this secular history of human mobility, the scopes and numbers of today’s flows are incomparable to previous ones, leading some scholars to refer to today’s era as “The Age of Migration” (Castles & Miller, 2009).