5 research outputs found
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)