Territorialização da bolivianidade: imigração na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte-Minas Gerais

Abstract

At the same time, given the international migratory scenario ― of deepening attempts to close borders ― and the national context, Belo Horizonte-MG is part of the migration route and Bolivian and Bolivian migrants stand out among those arriving in its metropolitan region. Inserted in the Thematic Project Observatory on Migration in São Paulo - NEPO/UNICAMP, this article brings part of the reflections developed in the author’s doctoral thesis and focuses on the Bolivian presence in the RMBH-MG, more specifically on the territorial (re)configuration of these subjects, which is materialized in the “territorialization of Bolivia” (RIBEIRO, 2021). The textile industry drives migratory flows and mobilizes Bolivians and Bolivians to transnational migration and, once in Brazil, internal migration occurs. Minas Gerais and its traditional textile sector now have the presence of Bolivian migratory flows. The RMBH-MG expresses the mobility of Bolivians and Bolivians in the global and regional production of sewing, boosting the production of territorialities, and connecting the new space of migration to its origins. The application of qualitative interviews allowed the understanding of the social construction of Bolivian and Bolivian women’s lives and the relationship of these subjects with the city, a process that we identified and named “the territorialization of Bolivianity” in the RMBH-MG. In Ribeirão das Neves-MG – a municipality on the outskirts of this metropolis – the “quadra-mundo” is the result of the struggle of these migrants for the configuration of a territoriality, which brings them closer to Bolivia from the experience of original customs, re-signified to the new metropolitan context miner. The RMBH-MG (re)configures Bolivian migration from new territorialities produced by the research subjects: work and housing, access to education and health care, and moments of rest and leisure ― which are also cultural ―, with the appropriation of the “world-quad”. This research is an invitation so that the Bolivian stories illuminated here can inspire the struggle for the recognition of the right to migrate — provided for by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights — and its guarantee in any and all places in the world.