Martuscelli, P.N. (2023) ‘There is no family here’: refugees’ strategies for family reunification in São Paulo. In: Tiilikainen, M., Hiitola, J., Ismail, A.A. and Palander, J., (eds.) Forced Migration and Separated Families: Everyday Insecurities and Transnational Strategies. IMISCOE Research Series (IMIS) . Springer International Publishing , pp. 61-78. ISBN 9783031249730
Abstract
Research on family reunification policies in the Global South is scarce, despite the fact that forced migratory movements are larger in the South than in the Global North. Brazil legally recognizes the right to family reunification for all migrants. Although the country has adopted a broad definition of family that recognizes relatives from the extended family, financial limitations require refugees to make choices about which family members to bring first. This chapter analyses their selection strategies based on 20 phenomenological, semi-structured interviews conducted with refugees mainly from Africa, in particular from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who applied for family reunification in São Paulo. I also employ quantitative data on refugees who applied for family reunification in Brazil between 2015 and 2018. Refugee narratives reveal five overlapping strategies used to select which family members to bring first. These strategies address the needs of family members both in the country of origin and in Brazil, namely, protection, health, finances, childcare and securing the future of the family. Hence, refugees in Brazil select family members for reunification not only because of close kinship ties, but also to improve everyday security.
Metadata
Item Type: | Book Section |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). Open Access: This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Politics and International Relations (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 25 Apr 2024 10:22 |
Last Modified: | 25 Apr 2024 10:23 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Springer International Publishing |
Series Name: | IMISCOE Research Series (IMIS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1007/978-3-031-24974-7_4 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:211867 |