Ser Gitano y Brasileño: migración, interculturalidad y ciudadanía en el sureste de Brasil, 1936-2007 = Being Gypsy and Brazilian: migration, interculturality and citizenship in southeastern Brazil, 1936-2007

• Main Author: Cairus, Brigitte Grossmann
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Editora da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (EDIPUCRS) 2010-01-01
• Series: Textos & Contextos (Porto Alegre)
• Subjects: migração
• Online Access: http://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/ojs/index.php/fass/article/viewFile/7289/5248

I will explore how Eastern European Gypsies (or Romanies) define their place within the Brazilian national identity in relation to other European and non-European immigrants. I will examine how they have lobbied for political support, visibility and citizenship rights. Brazilian Romanies perceive themselves as a distinct people, and continue to hold an ethnic identity based on language (Romani), kinship and clan ties inside and outside Brazil, myths, values, beliefs and symbols. I will also analyze the ethos of wandering, which persists despite the fact that many have private property and businesses in urban centers. Acculturation has been an ambiguous process for the Gypsies, who continue to be treated with a high degree of undesirability and exclusion by Brazilian society, despite their presence in the country since the sixteenth century. At the same time, Gypsies retain an aura of freedom and mysticism in the Brazilian cultural imaginary that is present in Brazilian literature, soap operas, and even in Umbanda (Afro-Brazilian) religious practices