MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES IN BRAZIL AS SOCIAL ACTORS: NARRATIVES AND EXPERIENCES OF RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE

Author: Liliana Acero

ABSTRACT

Migrants and refugees in Brazil have lately been arriving from other Latin American countries. The last Demographic Brazilian Census of 2022 shows that the total foreign-born population was of approximately a million migrants, where roughly 72% corresponded to Latin Americans. In this study, migrants and refugees are regarded as social subjects active in their migration processes, who exercise their agency in different realms of life using resilience and/or resistance strategies. The strategies implemented by transnational and national migrant collectives, often through digital media, the specificities of women migrants´ struggles, those followed in the world of work and in relation to health-care have been prioritized in this analysis. Methodologically, the text is based upon a critical qualitative review of academic specialized social science literature, statistics, public documents and information from migrant collectives and pro-migrant NGOs. It is also illustrated by selected migrants´ narratives found in the articles selected.  Main findings show that agency is always present among migrants and refugees, as far as they are not regarded as victims or passive recipients of State aid and support. The lack of the latter tends to activate their potential for agency, often expressed as an interconnection between adaptation and opposition behaviours.

Keywords:  Latin American migrants; Brazil; agency; resilience; resistance, migrant collectives; refugee collectives; pro-migration NGOs.

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