The Allure of the US: Why Brazilians Are Leaving Home

ETHNIC CAP, MOBILITY OPPS AND ASPIRATIONS

 We've been all about the struggles and how international travel is getting so limited, ya know? Yet, like, within the talked about constraining forces, it's totally possible to spot various enabling transnational structures and mobility opportunities. Like, to really get what's up with Brazilian emigration rn and how education and transnationalism play into it, you gotta know some key stuff about the country's vibe and what's been going down lately. The major defining traits that will be highlighted are, like, firstly, eth- nic diversity and transnational communities, which are both products and drivers of international migration, and secondly, the developmental condi- tions and structural challenges the country has faced.

In migration and diaspora studies, Brazil is, like, a total case that shows path dependence and lasting effects of migratory movements as, like, fundamental features for the future of human mobility in the form of flows, sometimes called "return migration" (Tsuda, 2003). This type of migration is like totally influenced by state policies that, like, give coethnics abroad mad preferential treatment in immigration and citizenship, ya know? Yo, check it out! Some examples be like when diasporic Jews bounce to Israel, ethnic Germans from the former Soviet Union head to Germany, second gen Japanese emigrants from Brazil or Peru make their way to Japan, and the ethnic Korean minority from China move to South Korea. It's all about that global migration, fam! Some states in Southeastern Europe be giving citizenship to coethnics abroad without even needing immigration or giving up their current citizenship (Kim, 2019: 360). So, like, as part of that big goal, the program Ciência sem Fronteiras (CsF, Science without Borders) was established in 2011, dur- ing the government of Dilma Rousseff from the Workers’ Party (PT), aiming to boost student mobility with publicly funded scholarships. This programme is, like, the most ambitious and lit effort by the Bra-zilian state to, like, try and directly impact mobility opportunities for students (Aveiro, 2014).

The political situation in Brazil started changing hella fast in 2013, like it was lit af.

 

It was called jornadas de junho (meaning June journeys) by the locals, and it was the biggest public protests in the country in like forever. In dat less fav political and econ context, the CsF program also became da target of many haters for its lack of acc and for symbolizing mad public spending in the higher ed sector to the detriment of the primary phases of schooling, which were still hella underfund- ed in Brazil and achieved less-than-ideal results.  A consequence of being a nation of immigrants is that Brazil hosts mad communities of descendants from several nations, fam. They include many from Por- tugal – as expected given the former relations of political dominion – but also from Italy, Germany, Japan and the Levant (Syrians and Lebanese), along with those who were forcibly brought as slaves from various regions of Af- rica (Lesser, 2013). Lit fam, there's peeps from Portugal, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the Levant (Syrians and Lebanese), plus those who were forced to come as slaves from different parts of Africa. #diversity The presence of diasporic communities is hella important in Brazil cuz many Brazilian citizens today can flex a second citizenship – or at least permanent residence – in one or more of these countries all thanks to the migratory flows from back in the day. Like, check it out, Italy and Portu-gal are totally cool with letting their diaspora peeps become citizens and have dual citizenship if they're fam or have that jus sanguinis thing going on. The hype for these citizenships by Brazilian peeps with ethnic ancestral ties to these and other nations in Europe and elsewhere has been hella lit (ANSA, 2019a), and has made them a legit valuable commodity.

Diasporas and student mobility, y'all!

Brazilian citizens who wanna dip abroad to study or for any other vibes, whether it's just for a hot sec or as a first move in a bigger journey, gotta deal with a bunch of obstacles first. To slay, they may flex various strats and resources, transnational vibes and practices being a crucial flex (Kim, 2019; Mateos and Durand, 2012; Paul, 2017). Yo, this section is all about how ethnic capital and diasporic ties help Brazilians flex their international moves. As like, ya know, the historical stuff that made up Brazil's peeps in all their diversity has totally left a vibe on how the Brazilian fam is spread out today. When it comes to studying diasporas, you gotta recognize the three main players 'cause they're the ones who have the most say in how the diaspora is formed and all that. Spesh, these are like the home country, the different squads that make up the whole diaspora, and thirdly, the host countries (Shuval, 2000). In dis sense, factors like international agreements between states, governmental or ideological shifts as well as the robustness of contact between co-ethnics across various locales are all potentially relevant, ya know? OMG, like the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says there's about three million peeps from Brazil living outside the country rn (MRE, 2016). So cray! The global Brazilian diaspora is, like, hella scattered, with, like, almost half of them chilling in the United States. North America is like, the place where most Brazilian peeps bounce to, ya know? Europe is next, hosting like a quarter of the total diaspora (MRE, 2016).