Year: 2006
Type: book-chapter
Abstract: A new flow of migrants is rapidly changing the population of the Guianas.In less than a decade, Brazilians have become a significant group in Surinam, a country with, according to the latest census, a total population of only 487,024 inhabitants (Censuskantoor 2005).]It is estimated that between 15,000 and 40,000 Brazilians have found a home in the country, mostly since 1995.The large majority of these migrants came to prospect for gold in the forest, but increasing numbers now live in Paramaribo (the capital), where a part of the Tourtonne neighborhood is now known as Belenzinho-which is a diminutive form of Belém, the capital of the state of Pará in the north of Brazil and the hometown of many of the new inhabitants.The influx of Brazilian migrants is also considerable in the bordering Guianas, although exact numbers are lacking.While the contacts between the Guianas and Brazil are not entirely new, the scale of this influx of Brazilians is unprecedented.This recent migration has added to the already ethnically plural population of the three Guianas.In Surinam, for example, the Brazilians have to make a place for themselves among Hindus (East Indian, 37%), Afro-Surinamese (31%), Javanese (15%), five Amerindian peoples (totaling 3%), Chinese (2%) and Europeans (1%) (Baines 2003:10).2 As several migrants mentioned during our conversations:"We think Brazil has a great variety of ethnic groups, but in Surinam there are many more different peoples."Here I shall address some of the implications of the insertion of these Brazilians into Surinamese society, by considering the development of the new community in the country and paying special attention to the transnational resources the Brazilians use to build their lives in Surinamese society.My focus is the social 117
Source: Lexington Books
Author: Marjo de Theije
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1579997993