Returning from China: Brazilian Migration between Dongguan and Vale dos Sinos

• Grant number: 25/04017-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology - Urban Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Igor José de Renó Machado
• Grantee: Guilherme de Lima
• Supervisor: Brigitte Suter
• Host Institution: Centro de Educação e Ciências Humanas (CECH). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Malmö University, Sweden
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/13623-0 - Return and Difference: Brazilian Migration in the Dongguan-Vale dos Sinos Circuit, BP.MS

Abstract

The project aims to analyze the return migration of Brazilians from China, specifically from the city of Dongguan in the southern part of the country. Originating from the leather-footwear industry of the Vale do Rio dos Sinos region in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazilian immigration to China began in the 1990s as a result of factory closures in Brazil, a consequence of crises in the sector. The Brazilian community in Dongguan remained stable until 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. With lockdown policies and mass layoffs, many Brazilians returned from Dongguan. Through fieldwork, we intend to reflect on the dimensions of return migration and its impact on the lives of Brazilian migrants, especially through accounts of their time in China and the ways in which differences were constructed in the Asian country, as well as the feelings of estrangement and familiarity upon returning to their home country. Additionally, to contextualize the study, it is necessary to connect this migratory process to the theoretical and conceptual field of migration anthropology, examine the historical background of the Vale do Rio dos Sinos region and its role in the national and international leather-footwear market, and, finally, assess the competitiveness of chinese markets and their impact on the Brazilian leather-footwear industry.