Your home, my refuge: being a refugee in Brazil

Hélio Arthur Reis Irigaray,Flávio Vellasquez,Renata Anderson,Fernando Filardi

doi:10.1590/1679-395120200040

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this study was to reveal how refugees who live in Brazil perceive the macro-dynamics of the local society and how their response to them varies in accordance with their different psycho demographic profiles. We interviewed 24 refugees from different countries, genders, ages, and races. The interviews were taped, transcribed, and subjected to critical discourse analysis, resulting in three a priori categories: social, discursive, and textual practices. We found out that social practices did differ in terms of their countries of origin, gender, and race. The analysis of their discourses revealed three different places and roles: hero, victim, or faker. Finally, the textual analysis indicated the choice of words that subverted the hegemonic discourse of refugees, revealing resistance to the place refugees are relegated to in Brazilian society.

Highlights

Refugees are a specific group within international migrations; because unlike simple migrants, exiles, or displaced people, who move because of natural and ecological disasters (Black, 2001); these are individuals who are forced to flee their countries of origin as a result of wars, ethnic, religious, political, repressive regimes, and other situations of violence and human rights violations (Oliveira, 2017)
Foreigners who live in Brazil are classified into five categories: visitors, legal residents, asylum-seekers, refugees, and illegal aliens
We have focused on the refugees, who live in the country legally and illegally, that currently totals 1.2 million people (CONARE, 2019), who mostly come from Venezuela (27%), Syria (23%), Haiti (14%), The Democratic Republic of Congo (9%), Colombia (7%), among others

Summary

Introduction

Refugees are a specific group within international migrations; because unlike simple migrants, exiles, or (internally) displaced people, who move because of natural and ecological disasters (Black, 2001); these are individuals who are forced to flee their countries of origin as a result of wars, ethnic, religious, political, repressive regimes, and other situations of violence and human rights violations (Oliveira, 2017) Speaking, these people cross borders in search of the protection of another state, with the primary objective of safeguarding their lives and freedoms. They have to reinvent their social identities and find new meanings for their lives (Nguyen, 2012) These individuals have to cope with painful losses and physical and emotional hardships (Hardy & Phillips, 1999). They must learn how to respond to the macro dynamics of the dominant society in which they have been relocated (Hamid, 2012)

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Results

Conclusion