Ties of labor migrant networks: a study of objective and subjective dimensions present in social networks and identities of migrant groups in the Serrana-SP and Guariba-SP

Author(s)

Andréa Vettorassi

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2010-08-27

Examining board members

Fernando Antonio Lourenço; Marilda Aparecida de Menezes; Jose Roberto Pereira Novaes; Rosana Aparecida Baeninger; Sonia Maria Pessoa Pereira Bergamasco

• Advisor: Fernando Antonio Lourenço

Abstract

This study aims at assessing the identity processes and social networks of rural migrants from the Northeast cities (nordestinos) to cities in the countryside of the state of Sao Paulo. In order to achieve this goal, two cities, whose economy is based on the sugarcane business, receive a significant number of rural migrants from the Northeast annually (seasonal or permanent) to work in the sugarcane fields were analyzed, namely Guariba-SP and Serrana- SP. Although supported by the same sugarcane economy and with similar numbers of inhabitants, their social representation are quite different, mainly in its historical aspects and where the relationship between migrants and the surrounding community (which we call "native") is studied. The study of both cities was based on different methodologies, such as interviews with migrants and natives (including, in Sao Raimundo Nonato, state of Piauí, hometown of many rural workers in Sao Paulo), quantitative research and implementation of a research method called "emotional maps." In order to understand the differences in the studied cities, not only field research was conducted in Guariba, Serrana and Sao Raimundo Nonato, but a monitoring of these migrants and their return to Piauí, by means of illegal transport, was also instrumental. It was possible to produce video images, during said return trip, that reveal the daily life of such a long journey, as well as these migrants' own reflections on the rural world in which they live, work, and their social networks and identities. It was possible to realize that social networks are crucial for migrants and very strong between them, since, in their hometowns, the State does not meet all the needs of rural communities. In order to guarantee their survival and better living conditions, there is a much greater need to count on each other to remedy these deficiencies. The symbolic relations and community are more effective than the institutional rules and norms that are virtually absent in their places of origin. Accustomed to such symbolic strategies of survival conquered from social networks, migrants attempt to adjust them to their destinations, where they experience prejudice against their social networks being constantly created in search of better living conditions. However, this prejudice against migrants, as well as their social networks and identities, present several particularities in accordance with the historical, political, social and symbolic context of the cities affected. Thus, this study contributes with the discussion about the reasons for dislocations by migrant groups, the reasons for different welcoming in Guariba-SP and Serrana-SP, and, lastly, it seeks to understand social networks, personal relationships and the organization of these migrant groups, from objective and subjective dimensions (AU)