Abstract
Abstract This paper examines how Haitian migration connecting Haiti to Brasília is enacted through Latin America. The empirical data come from an ethnographic study of Haitians in Brasilia. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 34 migrants to reconstruct their mobilities. We explore how the Haitians’ historical practice of living on the move has enabled them to deal with border controls and develop tactics to circulate through several Latin America countries, including Brazil. We argue that their migration to the Brazilian capital can neither be understood as a linear movement characterized by an established Haiti-Brasilia connection nor defined as movement to a place where these migrants attempt to settle down. Rather, we show that the recent presence of Brasilia in the mobility of these Haitians has to be understood in the context of a vast dynamic meshwork of places, people and information.
Highlights
The line is an object to play with - GegoThis article examines how Haitian mobility that connects Haiti to Brazil is produced
We show that the recent presence of Brasilia in the mobility of these Haitians has to be understood in the context of a vast dynamic meshwork of places, people and information
By tracking individual itineraries of Haitians who migrated to Brasilia but not directly from Haiti, we draw attention to the migration journeys of a group of people whose biographies are marked by the various places, peoples and types of information that link their movements through the American continent
Summary
This article examines how Haitian mobility that connects Haiti to Brazil is produced. Antônio Tadeu de Oliveira (2015) stresses that three main factors, among others, have decisively contributed to the prominence of Brazil in this mobility:1) beginning in 2004, Brazil had a presence in Haitian territory, as leader of a UN peacekeeping force known as the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti - MINUSTAH (French acronym), whose general aim was to help restore the rule of law and public safety in the country; 2) the Brazilian government has promoted international campaigns that present Brazil as a hospitable country with solid economic growth; and 3) a resurgence in the closing of borders in countries such as France and the US, in addition to hostilities Haitians suffered in the Dominican Republic These three main factors have boosted the interesting in seeking job opportunities, documentation and, a better life in this South American country. Others said that relatives and friends living abroad had lent them money
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