Transnationalism, Rural Youth and Its Search for Recognition

Abstract

This work is concerned to a part of the Brazilian contemporary youth which has been experiencing singularities in the process of reaching adulthood due to occasional international migration. They are young people allocated in a rural district marked by transnationalism. Our purpose is to question the youth condition in this context, aiming at showing the empirical elements of transnationalism and its influence in the life of these young people, in regards to their transition to adult life, as well as their search for recognition. The data used in the analysis was taken from the results achieved in a study with young people from transnational families, here identified as Sons of migration. Such study was developed during the years of 2009 to 2013 by means of ethnography, in which the main procedures used were data collection and direct and participant observation. The field research was developed during eight months, in a rural district in the region of Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, where questionnaires and personal and collective interviews were also conducted. The results to be presented in this article show, firstly, the main characteristics of transnationalism in this place of international migration, as well as features of their youth condition, transnational families, transition to adulthood, and, last but not least, these young people’s willingness to be someone, which is interconnected to their search for recognition.