De “turcos” a “mascates”: o questionamento da identidade sírio e libanesa em Piracicaba (1889 – 1930)

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the Syrian and Lebanese immigration to the city of Piracicaba during the period from 1889 to 1935. According to academic studies of the subject, such migration differed from mainstream ethnic came to Brazil mainly because immigration of Arabs was not subsidized by the state and they had a distinctly urban and commercial insertion. The city of Piracicaba has features that differentiate it within the context of overall economic cities in the state of São Paulo, which had already owned a large sugar development in communion with coffee production, which allowed a great economic development for the city. Thus, the work will explore the process of identity construction Syrian-Lebanese in Piracicaba, demonstrating the stereotypes created and uses the term Turkish. We will also analyze the causes that led the Lebanese and Syrians to opt for Piracicaba, besides trying to reconstruct the daily lives of these immigrants in the municipality in question. The work focuses analysis of issues elucidated from the study of lawsuits involving Syrians and Lebanese, the journal of the municipality and authors of the period who wrote about Arab immigrants. Given these circumstances, the article discusses the discursive mechanisms of identity construction and present trajectories of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants that contrast with the hegemonic discourse of the colony and reverberated by many authors and popular culture