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Everyday practices of transnational living : making sense of Brasiguaio identities

This study analyses transnationalism across the borders of Brazil and Paraguay. In particular, my interest regards the everyday practices and representation of Brasiguaios, a term commonly used to refer to those living in the Brazilian and Paraguayan border region. Whilst the well-established field of transnationalism usually focuses on processes forged by immigrants settled in a country geographically distant from their country of origin, this research demonstrates how migrants living in geographical proximity to their country of origin, as well as non-migrants living within a border region of their country engage in intense forms of transnationalism. The research for this thesis adopted multi-sited ethnography by living with and observing individuals in two distinct locations. The first location was the landless camp Antônio Irmão, known as the Brasiguaios landless camp, in the town of Itaquiraí, also in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Most of its residents are Brazilian migrant returnees from Paraguay. The second location was the joint Brazilian towns of Ponta Porã, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, in Brazil, and the Paraguayan town of Pedro Juan Caballero. Although most individuals living in these towns are not migrants, they are engaged in transnationalism. The two main distinct features of this study are the development of proximal transnationalism, a concept that explains the short forms of transnationalism within border regions; and the understanding that there are multiple representations of Brasiguaios. Thus, it is not possible to speak of a single, unique Brasiguaio identity. This thesis makes an academic contribution by its use of multi-sited ethnography to bring together the disciplines of transnationalism and border studies to show how everyday life and identities, framed within two nation-states that have increasingly affected the lives of individuals, are manifested in a border region of two countries, at the same time, seemingly disregarding the existence of the state.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:731436
Date January 2017
CreatorsEstrada, Marcos
PublisherUniversity of Warwick
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttp://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/97573/

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