Coresidence increases the risk of testing positive for COVID-19 among older Brazilians

Background: Brazil is among the countries hit hardest by COVID-19, and older adults are among the vulnerable groups. Intergenerational coresidence and interdependence among family members, both prevalent in Brazil, likely increase social and physical contact and thus potential infection. Methods: Using nationally representative data from the COVID-19 module of the Brazilian National Household Sample Survey (Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios), collected between July and November of 2020, we examined the association between living arrangements and exposure to and testing for COVID-19 among 63,816 Brazilians aged 60 years and older. We examine whether living arrangements influence self-reported COVID-19 symptoms as an indicator of subjective health assessment, testing as an indicator of health care service use, and a positive COVID-19 test result as an objective indicator of exposure to the disease. Results: Living arrangements shape older adults’ vulnerabilities to COVID-19 exposure and testing. Specifically, those living alone were more likely to report having symptoms and having had a test for COVID-19. However, older adults in multigenerational and skipped generation households were more likely than solo-dwellers to test positive for COVID- 19. Those with symptoms were more likely to test, regardless of their living arrangement. Among older adults without symptoms, those living alone had a higher probability of testing than those living in multigenerational or skippedgeneration households. Conclusions: Overall, our findings suggest that coresidence with younger family members puts older adults’ health at risk in the context of COVID-19. As younger Brazilians are increasingly vulnerable to COVID-19 and experiencing severe outcomes, policy makers need to be more attentive to the health needs of households that comprise older and younger cohorts, which are also more prevalent in poor and marginalized segments of the population

The Integration of the White into the Community of Color, or How the Europeans Became Brazilian in the Twentieth Century

Studies of immigrant integration in Europe and North America generally assume that immigrants are less white and considered less “modern” than the nationals of the countries where they arrive. In this essay, my purpose is to examine what happens when we apply the idea of “immigrant integration” to European immigrants who arrived in Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. These immigrants and their descendants have faced a contradiction between integrating into a national “imagined community,” constructed as “mixed-race,” and participating in local, national and global projects of (white) “modernity.” The paper explores how this contradiction was historically constructed in Brazil, how some Brazilians of European descent resolved it, and how we can think of the relationship between race, modernity, nationhood and immigrant integration from a more global perspective

The Integration of the White into the Community of Color, or How the Europeans Became Brazilian in the Twentieth Century

Studies of immigrant integration in Europe and North America generally assume that immigrants are less white and considered less “modern” than the nationals of the countries where they arrive. In this essay, my purpose is to examine what happens when we apply the idea of “immigrant integration” to European immigrants who arrived in Brazil at the end of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century. These immigrants and their descendants have faced a contradiction between integrating into a national “imagined community,” constructed as “mixed-race,” and participating in local, national and global projects of (white) “modernity.” The paper explores how this contradiction was historically constructed in Brazil, how some Brazilians of European descent resolved it, and how we can think of the relationship between race, modernity, nationhood and immigrant integration from a more global perspective

Who are the Blacks?

Debates about racial classification and its agreement with the uses of “race” and “color” in everyday life have been central to the discussion about affirmative action in Brazil. Using quantitative and qualitative data regarding the relationship between socio-economic status and racial identification in Brazilian universities, this paper investigates how particular kinds of policies may have different impact in terms of which particular “kinds” of individuals are benefited: both the labels that are used and the socio-economic limits that are imposed may have significant and not always intuitive consequences for which individuals are admitted, and for how contestable their eligibility will become. The label negro, when used as the sole criterion for admissions, may be too restrictive and exclude “deserving” non-whites from these policies. On the other hand, because potential non-whites from higher socio-economic classes are more likely to come from “multi-racial” families, the absence of a socio-economic criterion may lead to a substantial number of candidates who may feel that they can lay claims to a wide range of racial labels, not all of which may be acceptable to policy designers and scrutinizers concerned with restricting eligibility for quotas to “deserving” candidates

Migrations des personnes hautement qualifiées au Brésil. De l’isolement à l’insertion internationale ?

In this paper, using recent census and administrative data and an historical perspective, we examine the level of international circulation that exists in Brazil, and discuss its consequences and implications with an emphasis on highly skilled persons. Brazil received massive flows of international migration at the turn of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but has remained relatively isolated since. Recently, and for the first time ever, Brazilians have begun to go abroad for different reasons, while the country has begun once more to attract immigrants from the United States, Europe, and other Latin American countries. We examine here the links between education, labour markets and current international migration into and out of Brazil, attempting to understand to what extent migrants might contribute to the country's economic and social development by the transfer of remittances, and participation in economic activities in Brazilian and international labor markets. Next, we examine how the transnational circulation of people operates today within the education sector. Finally, we conclude by discussing the role that international migration for educational and professional purposes is likely to be having upon Brazil’s economic and social development, and outline some considerations regarding different policies that could be implemented to this end