Immigration, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Brazil, 1808 to the Present

This book examines the immigration to Brazil of millions of Europeans, Asians and Middle Easterners beginning in the nineteenth century.

Jeffrey Lesser (Author)

9780521193627, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 January 2013

219 pages, 19 b/w illus. 1 map 19 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2 cm, 0.43 kg

'This book is accessible enough for the general reader, though the best use will be in an undergraduate course on Brazilian history or a course on race and ethnicity in Brazil or Latin America more broadly.' Colonial Latin American Historical Review

Immigration, Ethnicity, and National Identity in Brazil, 1808 to the Present examines the immigration to Brazil of millions of Europeans, Asians and Middle Easterners beginning in the nineteenth century. Jeffrey Lesser analyzes how these newcomers and their descendants adapted to their new country and how national identity was formed as they became Brazilians along with their children and grandchildren. Lesser argues that immigration cannot be divorced from broader patterns of Brazilian race relations, as most immigrants settled in the decades surrounding the final abolition of slavery in 1888 and their experiences were deeply conditioned by ideas of race and ethnicity formed long before their arrival. This broad exploration of the relationships between immigration, ethnicity and nation allows for analysis of one of the most vexing areas of Brazilian study: identity.

1. Creating Brazilians
2. From Central Europe and Asia: immigration schemes, 1822–70
3. Mass migrations, 1880–1920
4. The creation of Euro-Brazilian identities
5. How Arabs became Jews, 1880–1940
6. Asianizing Brazil: new immigrants and new identities, 1900–55
7. Epilogue: the song remains the same.

Subject Areas: Ethnic studies [JFSL], History of the Americas [HBJK], History [HB]