Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
10
work, which would pay them more. With no success in that city, he traveled to São Paulo and
sought lodging in the shelter known as the ‘Casa do Migrante’; an institution maintained by the
Our Lady of Peace church in the center of the city. Since he was unable to find lodging in that
institution he began to worry because, without a job, his funds would soon dry up. Given the
uncertainty he decided to return to Manaus.
Those who take the route through the mediation of the ‘Pastoral of the Migrant’ and other
NGOs, like the AMA HAITI project which is maintained by volunteers, are luckier because, in
addition to receiving travel fare, they are offered housing support and other benefits. Some
companies from other parts of Brazil, particularly from the Southeastern, Southern and
Midwestern areas of the country, have gone to Manaus and Brasiléia to look for workers. In
2012, the demand for labour appeared to be higher, even though in the first months of 2013 it had
dropped. Employers became more selective and gave Haitians some anxiety, because without
money to continue travelling, their only hope was the arrival of some employer to hire them.
Moreover, the situation is even worse for women because employers generally prefer males.
This ‘preference’ is an important question. Is it only because of the scarcity of male workers in
the Brazilian labour market, or does it also involve a question of productive restructuring of
companies that are seeking to lower their production costs by paying low wages, particularly to
women (Harvey 1992, Sassen 1988)? The latter hypothesis seems to make more sense.
The case of Haitians and the Brazilian Immigration Policy
Brazil is a country where immigration continues to have an important role in its socioeconomic
and cultural formation. Throughout Brazilian history, immigrants were crucial to the economy;
from those who came under force, like Africans brought as slaves beginning in the 16th century,
to Europeans who, because of a lack of opportunities in their homeland, settled in the
Southeastern and Southern regions of Brazil in the late 19th century. Both streams contributed to
the construction of a multicultural and multiethnic nation. Considering the successes and failures
of these immigrants, the idea still persists that Brazil has always received everyone with open
arms, providing them opportunities for a better living.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to emphasize that this expansive attitude has waxed and
waned over the history of Brazilian immigration. In the late 19th century European immigrants,
mainly attracted by official State policies, were welcomed because of their economic and ‘racial’
contribution. In addition to being part of the national settlement project, they also served a policy
designed to ‘whiten’ the Brazilian population to which African slaves and their descendents had
massively contributed. But the situation changed during the
Estado Novo
[New State] period,
from 1937 to 1945, when immigrants were forced to adopt Brazilian nationality and were
persecuted for refusing assimilation if they hesitated to give up their original language, culture
and customs.
