Comunidade pol��tica, imigra����o e coes��o social: o caso portugu��s

This work contributes to an understanding of how the existence of multiple ethnic- cultural belongings in the political community concurs with the maintenance of a socially cohesive and politically united community. Considering the immigration reality in Portugal, we tried to identify the bonds that link immigrants to the political community and how those bonds can be mobilized to integrate immigrants in a common living project inside the national territory. Methodologically, this investigation is based in a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the policies and measures applied in Portugal in the immigration sphere, as well as the results of the empirical work we carried out with two immigration groups (Brazilians and Cape Verdeans) living in Lisbon���s metropolitan area, and the answers to a survey we sent to immigrant associations. The results of this research revealed the existence of a certain political ambivalence concerning the immigrant integration process, which expresses itself to a certain degree in the way national citizens and immigrants appraise the immigrant contribution to Portuguese society. The prevailing and blurred idea states that immigration expenses don���t make up for the benefits, and that is likely to influence the mutual relationship established between the two. Despite the existence of objective situations of social and economic disparity and despite a feeling of discrimination shared between immigrants, it is possible to identify a progressive citizenship universalization and the formal acceptance of immigrant religious and cultural traditions, even though the Portuguese parliament does not reflect such diversity. Thus, we perceive the possibility of warranting specific ethnic and cultural minority rights without the ethnicization or culturalization of political representation, and the general standards that serve as a backbone to the national political community might be enough to warrant that protection. Notwithstanding, some signs suggest that immigrant access to public sphere might not be easy, and this might have repercussions in the visibility and in the public discussion of demands, with outcomes on the type of integration policies Portugal applies.

Comunidade pol��tica, imigra����o e coes��o social: o caso portugu��s

O presente trabalho �� um contributo para entender em que medida a exist��ncia de m��ltiplas perten��as ��tnico-culturais na comunidade pol��tica �� concili��vel com a manuten����o de uma comunidade socialmente coesa e politicamente unit��ria. Tendo em conta a realidade imigrat��ria em Portugal, procurou-se saber quais os la��os que ligam os imigrantes �� comunidade pol��tica e em que medida eles podem ser mobilizados para a integra����o dos imigrantes num projecto comum de viv��ncia em territ��rio nacional. Metodologicamente, este trabalho tem por base a an��lise qualitativa e quantitativa das pol��ticas e medidas adoptados em Portugal em mat��ria de imigra����o, bem como, os resultados do trabalho emp��rico por n��s realizado junto de dois grupos de imigrantes (brasileiros e cabo-verdianos) residentes na ��rea metropolitana de Lisboa, assim como os resultados de um question��rio enviado ��s associa����es de imigrantes. Os resultados da pesquisa apontam para a exist��ncia de uma certa ambival��ncia pol��tica no processo de integra����o dos imigrantes, a qual se reflecte de algum modo na forma como os nacionais e os imigrantes valorizam o contributo dos imigrantes para a sociedade portuguesa, sobressaindo uma ideia difusa generalizada de que os custos da imigra����o n��o compensam os seus benef��cios, o que provavelmente afectar�� o relacionamento rec��proco. Apesar de situa����es objectivas de desigualdade social e econ��mica e da percep����o de discrimina����o existente entre os imigrantes, �� poss��vel identificar uma progressiva universaliza����o da cidadania e a aceita����o formal das tradi����es religiosas e culturais dos imigrantes, mesmo n��o sendo o parlamento portugu��s representativo dessa diversidade. Deste modo, afigura-se ser poss��vel assegurar direitos espec��ficos de protec����o das minorias ��tnicas e culturais sem que seja necess��ria a etniciza����o ou a culturaliza����o da representa����o pol��tica e os princ��pios gerais que estruturam a comunidade pol��tica nacional poder��o ser suficientes para assegurar essa protec����o. No entanto, existem ind��cios que sugerem que o acesso dos imigrantes �� esfera p��blica poder�� n��o ser f��cil, o que se poder�� traduzir na visibilidade e na discuss��o p��blica das suas reivindica����es, com consequ��ncias a n��vel do tipo de pol��ticas de integra����o adoptadas em Portugal.

IRELAND AND LATIN AMERICA: A CULTURAL HISTORY

According to Declan Kiberd, ���postcolonial writing does not begin only when the occupier withdraws: rather it is initiated at that very moment when a native writer formulates a text committed to cultural resistance.��� The Irish in Latin America ��� a continent emerging from indigenous cultures, colonisation, and migrations ��� may be regarded as colonised in Ireland and as colonisers in their new home. They are a counterexample to the standard pattern of identities in the major English-speaking destinations of the Irish Diaspora. Using literary sources, the press, correspondence, music, sports, and other cultural representations, in this thesis I search the attitudes and shared values signifying identities among the immigrants and their families. Their fragmentary and wide-ranging cultures provide a rich context to study the protean process of adaptation to, or rejection of, the new countries. Evolving from oppressed to oppressors, the Irish in Latin America swiftly became ingleses. Subsequently, in order to join the local middle classes they became vaqueros, llaneros, huasos, and gauchos so they could show signs of their effective integration to the native culture, as seen by the Latin American elites. Eventually, some Irish groups separated from the English mainstream culture and shaped their own community negotiating among Irishness, Englishness, and local identities in Brazil, Uruguay, Peru, Cuba, and other places in the region. These identities were not only unmoored in the emigrants��� minds but also manoeuvred by the political needs of community and religious leaders. After reviewing the major steps and patterns of Irish migration to Latin America, the thesis analyses texts from selected works, offers a version of how the settlers became Latin Americans or not, and elucidates the processes by which a new Irish-Latin American hybrid was created.

Connecting The Dots: What Is The Current Process ForReintegrating Cape Verdean Immigrants Deported From The United States?

The current issue of deportation is a global concern that is demanding the attention of human rights leaders, activists and global citizens. Small island nations, such as, the Cape Verde Islands, are experiencing difficulties reintegrating deported immigrants arriving from both the United States and Europe. According to the Consulate of Cape Verde���s database, one Cape Verdean immigrant was deported in 1987. Twenty years later, 108 deportation cases are pending���the highest number of pending cases to date. This issue is a reflection of the Western countries��� immigration and human rights policies that are affecting many developing countries. This capstone research focuses primarily on the reintegration program managed by the Cape Verdean government, the reintegration process of the deported immigrants from the United States and the islanders��� experiences throughout this process. This issue is examined through the eyes of a Cape Verdean immigrant living in the United States witnessing first hand the negative impacts these immigration policies have had, and continue to have, in the Cape Verdean community in the United States and in Cape Verde. Research was collected through various formal and informal interviews and published documents on this topic. Analysis of the data has revealed that the government���s reintegration program is experiencing difficulties with implementation and financial sustainability. Moreover, the deportees��� reintegration experience varied based on access to government assistance and their interaction with island residents. Subsequently, it is recommended that the reintegration program be evaluated with the purpose to reorganize under new leadership.

Active civic participation of immigrants in Portugal

Portugal���s historical past strongly influences the composition of the country���s immigrant population. The main third-country foreign nationals in Portugal originate traditionally from Portuguese-speaking African countries (namely Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea Bissau, and S. Tom�� e Pr��ncipe) and Brazil. In 2001, a newly created immigrant status entitled ���permanence��� authorization uncovered a quantitative and a qualitative change in the structure of immigrant population in Portugal. First, there was a quantitative jump from 223.602 foreigners in 2001 to 364.203 regularized foreigners in 2003. Secondly, there was a substantial qualitative shift in the composition of immigrants. The majority of the new immigrants began coming from Eastern European countries, such as Ukraine, Moldavia, Romania, and the Russian Federation. Thus, European countries outside the E.U. zone now rank second (after African countries) in their contribution of individuals to the stocks of immigrant population in Portugal. The differences between the new and traditional immigration flows are visible in the geographical distribution of immigrants and in their insertion into the labour market. While the traditional flows would congregate around the metropolitan area of Lisbon and in the Algarve, the new migratory flows tend to be more geographically dispersed and present in less urbanized areas of Portugal. In terms of insertion in the labour market, although the construction sector is still the most important industry for immigrant labour, Eastern European workers may also be found in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors. The institutional conditions that encourage immigrants��� civic participation are divided at three different levels: the state, the local, and the civil society levels. At the state level, the High Commissioner for Migrations and Ethnic Minorities is the main organizational structure along with a set of interrelated initiatives operating under specific regulatory frameworks, which act as mediators between state officials and the Portuguese civil society, and more specifically, immigrant communities. At the local level, some municipalities created consultative councils and municipal departments aiming at encouraging the participation and representation of interests from immigrant groups and association in local policies. In the civil society sphere, the main actors in Portugal spurring immigrants civic participation are immigrant associations, mainstream associations directed toward immigration topics, and unions. The legal conditions framing immigrants��� access to social housing, education, health, and social security in Portugal are also considered to be positive. Conditions restricting immigrants��� civic participation are mainly normative and include the Portuguese nationality law, the regulations shaping the political participation of immigrants, namely in what concerns their right to vote, and employment regulations restricting immigrants��� access to public administration positions. Part II of the report focuses on the active civic participation of third country immigrants. First, reasons for the lack of research on this issue in Portugal are explained. On the one hand, the recent immigration history and the more urgent needs regarding school and economic integration kept this issue out of the research spotlight. On the other hand, it was just in the beginning of the 1990s that immigrants took the very first steps toward collective mobilisation. Secondly, the literature review of Portuguese bibliography covers research on third country immigrants��� associative movement, research on local authorities��� policies and discussion about ethnic politics and political mobilisation of immigrants in Portugal. As political mobilisation of these groups has been made mainly through ethnic and/or migrant organisations, a brief history of immigrants' associative movement is given. Immigrant associations develop multiple roles, covering the social, the cultural, the economic and the political domains. Political claiming for the regularisation of illegal immigrants has been a permanent and important field of intervention since the mid-1990s. Research results reveal the com5 plex relations between ethnic mobilisation and the set of legal and institutional frameworks developed by local and national governmental authorities targeted to the incorporation of minority groups. Case studies on the Oeiras district and on the Amadora district are then presented. Conclusions underline that the most active immigrant groups are those from Cape Verde and Guinea Bissau, since these groups have constituted a higher number of ethnic associations, give priority to political claiming and present a more politicised discourse. Reflecting on the future of research on civic participation of third country immigrants in Portugal, the authors state that it would be interesting and relevant to compare the Portuguese situation with those of other European countries, with an older immigration history, and analyse how the Portuguese immigrants��� associative movement will be affected by a changing legal framework and the emergence of new opportunities within the set of structures regarding the political participation of minority groups.

The State of the Immigrant Body and the Body of the State: Negotiations at the Interface

Using an ethnographic analysis of the social interfaces between state agents and Cape Verdean students in Portugal, observed through participant observation in medical appointments, social work, immigration services and legal support to immigrants, this article aims to examine disciplinary state practices and the negotiations and power struggles that take place. The ethnographic cases discussed demonstrate how the idea of a fair and neutral state is simultaneously reproduced and denied in practice, thus elucidating the state as a symbol of union of an effective disunity. The ethnographic examples also indicate other dimensions of state practice, besides micro-disciplinary powers, which create room for flexibility and adaptation. And it is in this sense that ethnographies of interfaces between state and citizen offer a more relative perspective of excessively systematic interpretations of governmentality, illustrating how the effects of contradictory state practices are as unpredictable as human action itself.

Health, ageing migrants and care strategies

This article is the result of a study that seeks to understand the relationship between socio-economic conditions, health and active ageing. Behaviours related to active ageing in relation to health were identified as were the strategies used in active ageing and their determinants. A qualitative methodology was adopted in the form of semi-structured interviews. Data processing consisted of thematic content analysis in interviews. Two socio-economic groups of elderly Cape Verdean men and women composed the study sample. Both groups totalled 22 cases. Findings indicated that the socio-economic status interferes directly in the affairs of active ageing rather than health issues. In the higher socio-economic group, it was found that status determines active ageing rather than health issues.