Matrimonial and Business Webs: Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro. The Case Study

Abstract

Portuguese immigration to the city of Rio de Janeiro - after the Independence of Brazil and throughout the time that the country was characterized as a destination for displaced people from Europe - was always on a much larger scale than that of other nationalities. However, studies devoted to the subject are relatively recent, because of the invisibility imposed by linguistic and cultural proximities between the two peoples. In this context, the article seeks to be a contribution to a process of unveiling that has intensified since the turn of the new century. Its main objective is to analyze the relationship between marriage and business, from a perspective of web formation that helped to maintain Portuguese characteristics in the small commerce of the city. With this aim, it proposes a dialogue between theory and empirical data and uses, as its main sources the testimonies of immigrants. In terms of methodology it uses Oral History to propose exercises in prosopography, which can forward reflections from the individual to the collective processes.