Paper short abstract:

Based on the analysis of the trajectories of Peruvian migrants in São Paulo and on ethnographic fieldwork inspired by global ethnography, this work aims to explore how do these migrants navigate different sources of inequality to translate their spatial mobility into social mobility pathways.

Paper long abstract:

Peruvian "Mercosur" migrants in São Paulo face a paradox: they embody a regular migratory status and high economic precariousness. While they acquire legal immigration status through Mercosur arrangements, they incorporate into the labor market through the informal sector. They are mostly young, from urban or rural working classes and have a higher education level than the average of the Brazilian population. How can we account for these different sources of inequalities? How do these migrants navigate them to translate their spatial mobility into social mobility paths?

Based on the analysis of the trajectories of Peruvian migrants who arrived in São Paulo between 2010 and 2015 and on observations inspired by global ethnography, this work aims to explore how these trajectories are shaped by the characteristics of the migration regime in which they were deployed, and by the resources and capitals that the migrants managed to transfer, reinvest and accumulate through their migration.

Research shows that precarious working conditions (marked by informality, flexibility, auto-exploitation, and uncertainty) can facilitate the achievement of migration goals. For these migrants, their experience in Brazil is perceived as one of upward social mobility. This perception is linked to the autonomy granted by working as a street vendor; the advantage of not having a boss; the power to be a master of one's own time and the entrepreneurial opportunity to "make oneself". This core of values appears to be anchored in the cultural content of the neoliberal project that shapes these mobilities and migrants' subjectivities.