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Accepted Paper:
Places of association and differentiation: the Italian immigration in southern Brazil
Augusto Neftali Corte de Oliveira
(Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul)
Ramon Tisott
Paper short abstract:
Caxias do Sul was formed between 1876 and 1914 by Italian immigrants who early developed cultural values favorable to association, but under a specific dynamics: a differentiation between immigrants/descendants (Italians) and Brazilians. The research reveals this contradiction.
Paper long abstract:
We studied the presence of associative links in the community of Italian immigrants who formed Caxias do Sul (1876-1914). The research realizes historiographic review of associative patterns in three places: chapel societies in rural areas, mutual aid societies and cooperatives. The theoretical framework used is the social capital.
The rural community structure was given by the chapel, which brought together the neighborhood around the cult, the fair, the school and entertainment activities. It was the site of public life, where families developed bonds of religiosity and "italianitá" (Italianness, sense of belonging to Italy).
The associations of mutual assistance, founded since 1887, have become important social, economic and political institutions. The main one was the Società Italiana di Mutuo Soccorso Principe di Napoli, exclusive to Italians, who kept monetary assistance to members unable to work due to illness and where ran a school, a club, the first movie theater of the city.
Regarding the cooperatives, a woolen mill was founded was founded in 1898 by former employees of Schio. Subsequently arose wine cooperatives. Tacitly, in these companies the "italianitá" served as guarantee for trusting relationships.
These three sites provide evidence that immigrants were using strategies of the original communities to resolve collective challenges. The notion of "italianitá" was a cultural construction that produced mutual trust in an environment of limited information. However, the construction of places based on a exclusionary notion obstructed the integration of the different (Brazilians and other immigrants), especially those without commercial or government positions.
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Poster presentations
Session 1