Building Identities: Identity processes in the international return migration to Brasil

Abstract

The latest Brazilian demographic census (IBGE, 2010) showed a significant arrival of international immigrants in Brazil. However, this flow of people to the country is composed not only by foreigners but also by Brazilians returning from abroad. Such phenomenon is called international return migration.
The return is equivalent to the first emigration, once it involves – besides the decision taking and the disruption of daily life bonds in the country of destiny – changes in identities, ways of life and meaning systems. The returnees, even when going back to their origin country, in this case, Brazil, encounter alterations in the social and physical spaces as well as changes in the characters’ trajectories, which once were part of their universe. Thus, they deal with the familiar stranger and the stranger familiar.
The matter of return is enigmatic and of hard comprehension, since it questions the unidimensional and definite nature of migrations (Durand, 2006), justifying its establishment as an object of study mainly in the social science field. Botega, Cavalcanti & Oliveira (2015) highlight the importance of considering the return in migratory policies as it consists in a “new migration to an even more unknown place” (p.39). Returning to the homeland implies factors that have to be considered such as work, family, finances, which necessarily require new adjustments, identities negotiation and conciliations with the local group.
Our proposal in this article is to discuss the construction and negotiation of identity of Brazilian migrants who return to national territory. This is part of a qualitative research under development (master’s dissertation) to be concluded in February 2017. It was used documental analysis and in-depth interviews with returnees from different countries to Brazil.
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