Sustainability of life in transnational contexts: a comparative anthropological analysis of the living conditions, work and health of Bolivian women in São Paulo and Buenos Aires during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Grant number: 21/09697-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Effective date (Start): December 07, 2021
• Effective date (End): March 14, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Renata Mirandola Bichir
• Grantee: Eugenia Brage
• Supervisor: Ana Ines Mallimaci Barral
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina
• Associated to the scholarship: 19/13439-7 - Therapeutic itineraries of Bolivian women in the central region of São Paulo: conditions of life, work and access to health, BP.PD

Abstract

This project is part of the intersection of studies on south-south migration, health and sustainability of life and aims to analyze, through a comparative ethnography, ways of managing daily life and health care among Bolivian women residing in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina and the city of São Paulo, Brazil, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project is inspired by the results of my postdoctoral research developed during the pandemic with Bolivian women living in São Paulo and seeks to establish a comparison based on the main points identified. Thus, the objective is to analyze the daily strategies to guarantee the reproduction of life in the migratory context, as well as the ways in which the new configurations and transformations resulting from the pandemic impacted the daily lives of these women. The methodology consists of a field work to be developed in a primary health care center in Bairro de Flores, Buenos Aires. In this way, the data will be analyzed and compared upon returning to Brazil, with those collected over a year of field research in São Paulo. The research looks for contributions along two lines. On the one hand, in the field of knowledge about south-south migrations, particularly the transnational dynamics of the Bolivian migration of women, with a focus on the sustainability of life. On the other hand, it seeks to contribute to the knowledge of existing public policies, as well as the forms and dynamics of access of migrant populations to available services. This approach becomes relevant in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, a moment in which immigrant people -especially women- were particularly affected by the loss of income, difficulties in accessing policies and excessive unpaid work.