Imigração qualificada, identidade e corpo : estudantes estrangeiros da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Abstract

The starting point of this research proposal is the idea that from the experience of mobility the subject finds himself in a paradox between the permanent and the provisional. In that condition, the immigrant continues to maintain ties with his country of origin, but, on one hand, he aspires to be integrated into the host society, on the other one, he does not give up the elements that constitute him as belonging to another group. The body is one of the possibilities for thinking about identity, therefore, it is a contested element in the mobility experience, as the immigrant is often “denounced” for his phenotypic traits as someone different, who “is not from here”. Therefore, the study deals with identity in migratory context from the dimension of the body, therefore, its objective is to investigate to what extent the permanence of ties with the country of origin compromises the maintenance or transposition of identity borders regarding corporeality; it is questioned what kind of changes these immigrants make or not in their bodies. In this case, foreign students at UFS, based on the hypothesis that the permanence of bonds conditions their decisions when thinking about carrying out some change in their bodies as an integration strategy in the host society. The research also takes another look at migration studies, as it decentralizes the association commonly made between immigrant and workforce, as he is much more than a worker, he must be considered in his history, trajectory, and identities (in the case of this study, their bodily identity) their motivations, way of life, worldview, etc. Furthermore, we consider students in mobility within the category of qualified migrations. Initially, the collection of quantitative data regarding the number of foreign students present at the UFS was carried out. The research adopted the qualitative method and the form of data collection was done through interviews with a semi-structured script. The data were analyzed based on the analysis categories presented in the theoretical framework and literature review.