Integration of refugees from Venezuela in Brazil and of immigrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo in the United States: a cross cultural ethnography of language policies and practices

• Autor(a) principal: Sousa-Bernini, Emny Nicole Batista de
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Tese
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFPB
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufpb.br/jspui/handle/123456789/18440
• topic: Refugiados; Imigrantes; Integração; Políticas linguísticas; Refugees; Immigrants; Integration; Language policies; Refugiados; Inmigrantes; Integración; Políticas linguísticas; Les réfugiés; Les immigrants; L'intégration; Politiques linguistique; CNPQ::LINGUISTICA, LETRAS E ARTES::LINGUISTICA

There has been a crisis over forced displacement of people worldwide over the past few years. The largest group of refugees entering Brazil are Venezuelans (HOAGLAND, 2019) while Congolese immigrants have been amongst the largest groups arriving in the United States (KROGSTAD and RADFORD, 2017). Both countries’ present official discourses that add to the negative climate of opinion, such as speeches by the Presidents Trump and Bolsonaro demeaning individuals who are part of those groups. In this context and in the current adverse climates of opinion, this qualitative ethnographic study addresses the central matter of understanding Venezuelan and Congolese immigrants’ and refugees’ adapting experiences in Brazil and in the United States. I focus on the challenge of integrating through learning the host countries’ languages, Portuguese and English, and at the same time keeping their identities through maintaining multilingualism. I use Grounded Theory analytic methods (CHARMAZ, 2006), including data coding, sampling and memo writing, as well as ethnographic tools (SALDAÑA, 2015), including semi-structured interviews, in-field notes, and pictures. Key concepts in my theoretical framework, constructed after the analysis process, are related to identity (BOURDIEU, 1991; NORTON, 2013), Theory of practice (BOURDIEU, 1977), and Language Policy as social practice (LEVINSON, SUTTON, and WINSTEAD, 2009). The findings demonstrate that official language policies are filled with naturalized propositions that are arbitrary, both culturally and ideologically situated, and that directly affects and influences immigrants’ and refugees’ language perceptions, social practices, and living experiences. Differences and similarities between the two countries were also found. The research contributes to the field of Language Policy and Planning by the choice of theme, contexts, and participants, under investigated, by providing a cross-cultural comprehensive analysis, and by challenging notions traditional in the field.