Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at the experiences of Brazilian women living in Germany and in relationships with/ married to German men in parallel to the way prospective brides were depicted in marriage agencies websites which specialized in uniting German men to Brazilian women.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I present some of the results from my dissertation in which I aimed to scrutinize the values attributed to affective-sexual relationships that are established through the mediation of dating websites and introduction agencies between German men and Brazilian women. Taking in consideration the historical and social dynamics that make such relationships not only possible, but also desirable, I tried to shed light into how such dynamics are implicated in the production and reproduction of desire and of intimate interactions, as well as how such dynamics mobilize notions of race and sexuality. The presentation will draw a parallel between the representations of Brazilian women in the websites of four marriage agencies specialized in uniting Brazilian women to German men and the experiences of a group of young Brazilian women living in Berlin who were in relationships with / married to German men. Throughout the paper I will propose the argument that, in spite the processes of racialization and sexualization which these women were under once they moved to the country of origin of their partners, they were in parts able to manipulate such stigma and forge, collectively and individually, new national-racial identities.