COUV ACTES - Psychologie communautaire

Community Psychology: Common Values, Diverse PracticesFemale migration in Brazil and the role of networks in the dailylife of migrant womenby Juliana Nazareth 1 & Maria Inacia D'Ávila Neto 2BackgroundThe increasing number of migrant women throughout the globalized world (about 100 million estimated by theUnited Nations) gives strength and representativeness for the issue of female migration, while pointing to theimportance of deeper reflection and more systematic studies about their specific questions (Bilac, 1995).In Brazil, as in other parts of the world, there is a growing percentage of women who migrate from poorer regions,like the Northeast, to the more developed regions, like the Southeast, especially to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo,and there are few studies that contemplate this reality.This paper aims to fill this gap, by attempting to map and to discuss, briefly, the everyday strategies of survival ofmigrant women that come to urban centers in search of better living conditions and recognition (Fraser, 2003;Honneth, 2002). Although, once in a big town, it is common to see them included in significant vulnerabilitiescontexts, involved in low prestige and pay activities, living in places with little urban infrastructure, faced withexclusion, prejudice and inequality.Study and ResultsAn environment that allows an approximation with other migrants, outlining a sort of creative and informalnetwork, that helps to overcome many adversities and also brings for them the experience of belonging andrecognition. Facing significant new challenges, they are able to find support and solidarity in these informalnetworks that, quickly, becomes an important survival strategy for them. Not only to circumvent the more concretedaily adversities, but also the more subjective ones, like the longing for family and the distance of the habits andthe codes of their origin culture.The encounter with other migrants, mainly from the same city, seems to promote the formation of anintersubjective field, where these women experience belonging, acceptance and identification. The networkswould be formed by all these ties, the most, to least significant. The place that each migrant holds in the networkimplies a greater or lesser recognition, and the possibility of its materialization (Honneth, 2002).The importance of networks for the study of migration has been highlighted earlier (Durhan, 1984). Much of theliterature, however, addresses issues related to international migration (Fusco, 2002; Goza, 2003; Smith, 2004).Although there are those who point to the relationship between gender and social networks, showing the key role1JULIANA NAZARETH is psychologist and is finishing a doctorate in psychosociology in Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)about Brazilian migration women with supervision of Maria Inacia.2MARIA INÁCIA D'ÁVILA NETO is a titular teacher from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ),150