Na vida, única vez fabricando famílias e relacionalidades entre decasséguis no Japão

Abstract

The Dekasegi Phenomenon reveals a migratory flow that has caused suffering in the Japanese Brazilian community by fragmenting several families, with second and third generation descendants migrating to Japan, leaving behind parents, children and/or wives in Brazil. In this context we face several changes of previous roles and functions of each family member at home, forcing these people to overcome the distance and change their routines at home, rising questions to ponder in Social Anthropology, especially in its Kinship Theories. Characterized in contemporary Anthropological Theory as transnational families precisely for being constituted of members living apart in more than one country, dekasegi families live with a paradox and are still little studied in Anthropology: a series of economic, cultural, political, and other reasons makes it necessary for family members to be separated and sent to another country in order to keep the family united. This research proposes a study of dekasegi families living in Hamamatsu city, Shizuoka, known for being home to one of the largest contingents of Brazilians living in Japan. The main objective of this thesis is to shed light on how these Japanese Brazilians build their relationships not only with one another but also with family members left behind in Brazil aiming a better understanding of the internal dynamics of this migratory flow that has lasted for more than 20 years.