THINKING ABOUT HOSTING REFUGEE IMMIGRANTS: DECULTURATION, STIGMA AND SOLIDARITY

Abstract

In the last decades, Brazil has faced the challenge to host and integrate people who have been forced to migrate, coming mainly from Haiti, Venezuela, and Syria. This paper presents a discussion, from a theoretical focus, on the hosting of refugee immigrants. Firstly, we explain the psychic vulnerability condition constituted in migration, caused by the rupture of the cultural references background internalized by the displaced individual; we highlight the relevance of hosting activities to promote the mental health of that population. Secondly, we reflect upon some of the undesirable effects that may be produced during the hosting practices, due to the intercultural dimension of the relationship between the actions’ agents and subjects. Namely, those effects are the deculturation and the stigmatization, phenomena that threaten the immigrants’ integrity and mental health, and, therefore, should be avoided within a hosting context. The construction of solidarity and reciprocity bonds are seen as desirable effects of the contact established between the immigrants and the volunteers in the hosting practices. This paper was inspired by the experience of the realization of Portuguese language lessons to Haitians in the city of Dourados, State of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.