Children of Brazilian immigrants in the United States

What is it about?

Brazilian immigrants in the United States are quite an invisible population because they tend to be racialized as Latino/Hispanic, not fitting the U.S. Census-prescribed categorizations for race and ethnicity. However, the growing number of Brazilian immigrants in the country raises questions about their and their descendants' experiences with their heritage language and culture maintenance. In this article, my colleagues and I explored second-generation Brazilian immigrants' lived experiences with preserving their heritage language and culture in Southwest Florida. The study's findings evidenced the essence of their experiences in the participants' Brazilian ethnic identity, primarily rooted in family and affectionate experiences and their rejection of their American citizenship (due to the increase of discrimination, racism, and xenophobia in the country). The participants also highlighted their perceptions of speaking two languages as a source of power that prompted them to confront discrimination they mainly faced at school.

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Why is it important?

Several publications have addressed the experiences of Brazilian immigrants in the U.S. However, little was known of the experiences of adolescents who are U.S.-born to undocumented Brazilian parents in the country. Their perspectives offer significant insights into their reasons for maintaining Portuguese as their heritage language, the Brazilian culture, and Brazilian ethnic identity development while living in the U.S.

Perspectives