The Interconnected Legacy of Migration, Drought, and Development in Santarém do Pará

Abstract

Abstract During major droughts in 1951–1953 and 1958, families from the rural Northeast of Brazil migrated to Santarém do Pará, a port city on the Lower Amazon. Over time, migrants and their descendants developed a significant presence in commerce and local politics, while retaining a multifaceted and complicated identity rooted in the Northeast. This article considers the formation of North-eastern identity in Santarém through an intergenerational lens, examining the stories about migration told by migrants and their descendants, as well as locals. In the city, narratives about migration from the Northeast and North-eastern identities are shaped in response to local conversations about development, national discourses about regional identity, and by intrafamilial and personal responses to the memory and trauma of drought. For the most part, North-eastern migrants in Santarém have embraced their role in bringing development to the city, seeing their triumph over the circumstances of drought and their economic success in the city as a triumph over the prejudices and disadvantages faced by their ancestors.