Estudantes estrangeiros no Brasil : migrações, informação e produção de diferença

Abstract

The migration of people produces and circulates information and knowledge. Based on this premise, the present investigation analyzes the experience of foreign students in Brazil, in the period of 2010-2016. The objective of this study was to know the dynamics of production and circulation of information and knowledge, as well as the production of differentiation in the experience of studying and living in another country. This study considers foreign students as migrants, based on the approach of the Autonomy of the Migrations. In the methodological area this study performs an ethnographic exercise in multi-site and virtual modalities, involving the collection of multivariate data through an online questionnaire, interviews and observation. The observation is conducted in nine virtual communities of students and / or migrants on Facebook. The group of study collaborators is made up of thirty-five foreign students from African countries (Angola, Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo), South Americans (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela), Caribbean (Haiti), Central American (Costa Rica) and Europeans (France and Italy). The results show, amongst other things, that foreign students migrate to Brazil for reasons not exclusively academic, but also for the search for new life experiences, for the interest in new cultures, languages, people and the search for autonomy. This study points out that the use of ICT is fundamental in the migrant condition of living between the reception society (here) and the country of origin (there).In Brazil this students use ICT for production, access and sharing the information of their country of origin as well the academic life. The foreign students perceive themselves as different people after being in the Brazilian society and then they recognize certain habits, behaviors and attitudes that associate with the idea of been "Brazilianness". These students also declare from their own perceptions that the Brazilians are also affected in this conviviality. The study concludes that the experience of studying and living in Brazil is considered positive for most migrant students that were contacted. In addition, the migratory experience of foreign students provides informational and cognitive gains that go beyond academic purposes, enabling them to become different people throughout their lives in a society with other ways of acting, thinking, feeling and living.