Can stigma become a resource? The mobilisation of aesthetic–corporal capital by female immigrant entrepreneurs from Brazil

The proportion and visibility of Brazilian women and particularly the specific images of Brazil and Brazilians in the Portuguese imaginary have contributed to the construction of new versions of stigma and stereotypes surrounding them. Mainstream images of Brazilian women have incorporated prejudices about the sensuality of Creole women who are reminiscent of the Portuguese colonial imaginary. Starting from this stigmatised image, we show how Brazilian women entrepreneurs in the ‘beauty’ business filière reinterpret and mobilise this perceived negative image, transforming it into an added value associated with an ‘aesthetic’ Brazilian body culture. This idea of ‘body’ aesthetics becomes a business resource transformed into aesthetic– corporal capital, a key component of the Brazilian beauty business filière. Empirically, this research is based on qualitative elements, in particular 25 interviews with Brazilian women entrepreneurs of the beauty filière working in Portugal, collected for the project BELTS-W (Brazilian Entrepreneurial Links and Transnational Strategies – Women).This article is an output of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) sponsored project PIHM/GC/0111/2008 and Brazilian Entrepreneurial Links and Transnational Strategies-Women (BELTS-W)

Towards a diversity of migratory types and contexts in Southern Europe

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Migrants, migration and the security paradigm: constraints and opportunities

Scholars of migration have struggled with the concept of security since it was first connected with migrants in the early 1990s. The initial reaction was frequently a total rejection of any association between the two, emphasizing the usually negative effects of the security discourse on migrants. The security paradigm is now becoming so ingrained that it is impossible to ignore the impact of security concerns on the development of migration policy. This article examines the historical development of the security approach through the response to Algerian migrants in France over the decade from 1993 to 2003. This leads to the development of a critical security position that does not reject the security focus but combines it with a constructivist approach in an attempt to explain recent developments in attitudes to migrants and migration in Europe