Migrant transnationalism and time: divergent trajectories of diasporic political engagement in early 20th century São Paulo

ABSTRACT

Why and how do some migrant groups demonstrate greater engagement with homeland politics than others at particular historical moments? Research has examined both individual-level factors such as migrants’ resources and institutional factors such as contexts of incorporation. Less theorised, however, are the ways in which factors are mediated by temporal contexts such as timing and sequence. Drawing on the notion of path dependence, this study analyses how the temporal orders of four institutional factors – 1) the socioeconomic context of reception, 2) incorporative policies of the receiving state, 3) diaspora policies of the sending state, and 4) migrant networks – resulted in divergent levels of diasporic engagement between Italian and Japanese migrants in early twentieth century Brazil. My findings show that the socioeconomic context of reception provides the initial condition on which migrants develop their networks. Second, the timing of when diasporic policies – relative to incorporative policies – reach out to migrant networks affects the breadths of social class involvement in diasporic engagement. This study contends that timing plays a critical role in producing divergent levels of diasporic engagement at the group-level.

KEYWORDS:

• Migrant transnationalism
• path dependence
• Italian migrants
• Japanese migrants
• Brazil

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Robert Smith, John Torpey, Takeshi Tsuchiya, Gaku Tsuda, Brian Van Wyck, and Monica Varsanyi (in alphabetical order) who kindly read earlier versions of this paper and gave me insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Burajiru Jiho. 1937. ‘Zaigai Douhou Jyugo no Shien,’ October 4. Yokohama: Japanese Oversea Museum; Seishu Shimpo 1938. ‘Okuchi wo tsunagu Syussei Gunjin Imondan,’ January 1. Yokohama: Japanese Oversea Museum.

2 Mechanically, there must be 16 types combining four binary parameters. Yet other types are either unrealistic or irrelevant to this study.

3 In the 1910s, labor movements with Italian leadership emerged in São Paulo city. However, such movements could not mobilize working-class Italians broadly (Hall 1975, 396). Additionally, most working-class Italians remained at arm’s length from the anti-fascist mobilization (Bertonha 1998c).

4 Nippaku Sangyou Chuou Kai. c.1939. ‘Nippaku Sangyou Kumiai Chuou Kai Dai 6 Kai Soukai Memo.’ 移1 (D3), reel #9, Tokyo: Materials on Japanese Emigration, National Diet Library.

5 Ryoukaku, Yoshishige. 1928. ‘Zaigai Houjin Jidou Kyouiku nikansuru Houkoku.’ I-1-5-0-2_8_2, Tokyo: Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

6 Hamaguchi, Mitsuo. 1931. ‘Zairyu Houjin no Setsuritusuru Gakkou ni kansuru Ken,’ from Consul Mitsuo Hamaguchi to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kijyuro Shidehara, 8/7/1931, I-1-5-0-1_002, Tokyo: Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

7 Ibid.

8 Nippaku Sangyou Kumiai Chuou Kai. 1936. ‘Zaihaku Houjin Sangyou Kumiai Kinyuu Shikin Yuuzuu Shinsei ni kansuru Ken’, from Japanese-Brazilian Central Cooperative to the Consul General in São Paulo, Kozo Ichige, 27/4/1936 in File ‘Nippaku Sangyou Kumiai Chuou Kai to Sei-shi Souryoujikan tono Kankei Shiryou’, São Paulo: Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa no Brasil; Ichige, Kozo. 1937. ‘Mensakusha Keizai no Gourika ni kansuru Ken’, from the Consul General Kozo Ichige to the Japanese-Brazilian Central Cooperative, 23/8/1937, File ‘Nippaku Sangyou Kumiai Cyuuou Kai to Sei-shi Souryoujikan tono Kankei Shiryou’ São Paulo: Museu Histórico da Imigração Japonesa do Brazil.

9 The economic sphere is not the only area through which the Japanese consulate organized Japanese migrants. It organized community associations and ethnic schools as well (Ichge, Kozo. 1937. ‘Kakuchi Nihonjinkai Daihyousya Kaigi ni kansuru Ken’, from Consul General in São Paulo Kozo Ichige to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Kouki Hirota, 15/10/1937, K-3-2-2-2, Tokyo: Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; Shibata 1997; Negawa 2013).

10 Miyao, Atsushi. 1940. ‘Kyoka Shinsei ni kansuru Ken’, 14/10/1940, 移1 (D3), reel #45, Tokyo: Materials on Japanese Emigration, National Diet Library.

Additional information

Funding

This study is supported by a pre-doctoral fellowship (2016–2017) at Centro de Estudos Nipo-Brasileiros, São Paulo, Brazil and a Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (2014) by the Social Science Research Council.