Involuntary immigrants experience in the Itajaí valley,Brazil: From segregation to survival strategies

Increasingly, people are forced to leave their countries looking for integrity and survival. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with people forced to migrate in the last few years to understand the processes of building immigrant communities and their paradoxical effect on the integration of immigrants in the Itajaí Valley, Brazil. In these interviews, they talked about their life stories, the migratory route and the relationships established with Brazilians and immigrants of their and other cultures and nationalities. After data analysis using categorical semantic analysis, forms of immigrant communities were identified due to external factors, as a consequence of xenophobic practices of social exclusion; and internal ones, from the search for identity continuity, maintenance of culture, mutual help and psychic support.