Intracommunity Conflict among New Citizens: Ottoman Immigrants in Late nineteenth century Brazil

Abstract

This article looks at intracommunal conflict among Ottoman immigrants in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the end of the 1800s. It examines how community members sought the intervention of the positivist state as an additional strategy to resolve conflicts. It illustrates the ways notions of White Brazilian citizenship shaped intracommunal conflicts, specifically in the realm of business transactions and job opportunities. In the absence of traditional labor relations among Ottoman peddlers and or elite Ottoman businessmen, the latter surfaced as agents of community discipline to promote good work ethics and citizenship. Finally, it provides a glimpse into the reformed positivist police’s inquisitorial logic of the and how it supported the racialization of commercial crimes.