Changing (and Being Changed by) the Spaces We Inhabit

*In Mumbai with my mother and brother some 
years ago back when it was Bombay*
Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

Growing up on Nantucket island, there wasn't a great amount of diversity in the year-round population. Luckily, my parents felt it was important to expose us to the wider world, just a ferry-ride (and perhaps a plane-ride) away.

Summer on the island was different though. Between Memorial and Labor day you could hear the Jamaican and Irish accents of folks who had come for the many available summer jobs afforded by the influx of tourists. By the time I was in college and working as a gardener during summer break, my coworkers also included immigrants from Eastern Europe and Central and South America. And they were living on the island year round instead of seasonally.

By the time I was taking Portuguese in college, I often overheard Brazilian Portuguese spoken in my hometown and homestate of Massachusetts. When I flew into Boston this past December, I stood outside the airport waiting for the Plymouth Brockton bus. I smiled when the first words I heard came from a Brazilian man happily greeting his recently arrived granddaughter in Portuguese.

And so, when I was back home in the northeast, I grew curious about Brazilian immigrants to the United States. Here are some basics: according to one recently published article there are an estimated 1.2 million Brazilians living in the country. They often come from urban areas in Brazil and are often from middle or lower-middle classes, though this is changing. The states with the highest populations of Brazilians are (in this order): Florida, Massachusetts (yup good ol' MA in the house!), California & New York (Marcus, 2009).

In an article on, "(Re)creating places and spaces in two countries: Brazilian transnational migration processes" the author Marcus describes a qualitative study of immigrant experiences. In his interviews with Brazilian immigrants in Marietta, Georgia and Framingham, Massachusetts, Marcus (2009) explores how, "...the idea of ‘home’ becomes a mobile, fluid, multi-faceted concept for those Brazilians who remain in the United States as well as for those who return to Brazil" (p. 183).

He says that they often "(re)create spaces and places" (p. 184) for example through supermarkets and stores with Brazilian products, beauty salons, newspapers in magazines in Portuguese (there are 27 Brazilian immigrant newspapers in Massachusetts for example) and Brazilian religious affiliations. One YellowPages advertisement (in Atlanta, Georgia) went as follows: "This is a country where dreams come true: Come to Florida! The Brazil that worked out!’’ (Esse é o país onde sonhos se tornam realidade: Venha para Florida! O Brasil que deu Certo!)" (p. 193-194). Florida it seems is a tad warmer and friendlier than the rather reserved, Puritanical Massachusetts I guess...I wish I could argue against that statement but ah, well, I'd still rather live in Massachusetts...

The article also describes the impact of American experiences on those immigrants who returned home to Brazil (or went back and forth). It's interesting to think how the different places we inhabit change us - and how we all can react differently. I've known so many people who have grown up and lived in multiple cultures, not always being able to truly "belong" to just one place anymore. I can only imagine this experience becoming more commonplace. We all bring little (or large) pieces of the spaces we inhabit with us as we move through life.

As a 10-year-old, I brought back British slang, a taste for English sweets and crisps, a love of Beano, and the tendency to shorten words (i.e. "mag" instead of magazine) and pronounce "can't" as "caun't" back with me after only two months in Devon, England. Of course, some of that drove my American friends up a wall and I toned it down a little for their sake.

I'll be curious to see what will accompany me back from Brazil in May.

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Reference:

Marcus, A. P. (2008). (Re)creating places and spaces in two countries: Brazilian transnational migration processes. Journal of Cultural Geography, 26(2), 173-198.