Immigrants: between politics, conflicts and prejudices

Abstract

In this paper, we try to focus on some issues involving groups which have moved among various continents, but with the Brazilian context as main reference, from which we have based our research with Portuguese, Luso-African, African, Japanese and German immigrants. We consider, however, the shifts made earlier by such groups, especially in African territories. By reflecting on how the immigrants represent their experiences of displacement, and how they are viewed inside societies in which they are inserted, we believe that it allows us to think about the complex relations established among them. At the same time, it implies acceptance and simultaneously rejection, conflict and discrimination. The immigration processes put in relation individuals/groups who consider each other as different: the shape in which exchanges and disputes occur between them, in various fields, can allow the deconstruction of prejudices or stereotypes, its reinforcement or even the building of new ones.