Author:

Keywords:

Migration, Transnationalism

Abstract:

In the contemporary context of globalisation, the classic migratory picture of the migrant that either is a temporary sojourner or completely assimilated to the receiving country’s culture is no longer tenable. Rapid technological development is interconnecting individuals and groups, making it increasingly easy for migrants to maintain close links with their regions of origin. This paper focuses on the sites, practices and meanings of these transnational activities of Brazilian migrants residing in Belgium and their influence on ethnic identity construction, both on the individual and the collective level. It also investigates how the question of identity is related to the policy of the Brazilian government. Deterritorialising social identities, Brazilians migrants are no longer a loose mass of emigrants, but are increasingly becoming communities that are gaining a new kind of organised links with their home country. The larger scale narrative of the Brazilian state is influencing the sites where migrants develop their social and cultural relations, describing ‘home’ as translocal, transnational and diasporic.