Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Race on the Move: Brazilian Migrants and the Global Reconstruction of Race

2016; Oxford University Press; Volume: 95; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/sf/sow010

1534-7605

Gladys Mitchell-Walthour,

Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy

In Tiffany Joseph’s book Race on the Move: Brazilian Migrants and the Global Reconstruction of Race, she examines Brazilian migrants’ racialized experiences in the United States and how these experiences impact the way they understand race in Governador Valadares (GV), Brazil. GV has a history of relations with the United States, as Americans lived in the city during World War II. GV has the highest number of Brazilians migrating to the United States. It is a unique city because it is somewhat isolated in its location and is not a large city with foreigners from around the world. Yet, because so many people from the city migrate to the United States and return, there are signs that the local economy is sustained by remittances, and other signs of the impact of the US influence, such as stores and restaurants. Joseph’s book largely concerns the impact of understandings of race across borders for migrants as well as those in their family that have not immigrated. She develops the concept of the transnational racial optic, which considers Brazilian notions of race and skin color as well as how race is understood in the United States. Further, Brazilian migrants internalize these various racial schemas in the way they view race. Brazilians returning to Brazil view race differently than they did pre-migration, and upon returning consider how others would be classified in the United States, considering the transnational optic that was influenced by experiences in the United States.