Working Conditions of Brazilian Housecleaners in Massachusetts: A Joint Research Project of the UMass Boston-Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership

Research Questions: What are the working and living conditions of Brazilian housecleaners in the major Brazilian communities of Massachusetts? What working conditions do they perceive to be the most problematic in their work life? A domestic worker is a person who works within their employer’s household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping. Globally there are over 52.6 million domestic workers, 2.5 million in the United States and over 100,000 in Massachusetts. Domestic work is the most common job Brazilian immigrant women perform in the U.S., regardless of their educational and economic background

Art builds the city BostonArte que faz a cidade

Três antropólogos empreenderam uma reflexão conjunta em torno de alguns murais comunitários (community murals) que visitaram nas ruas de Roxbury e Dorchester, conhecidos bairros de Boston habitados por uma população maioritariamente latina, afro-americana e cabo-verdiana. A ideia deste encontro em torno das pinturas de rua surgiu de prévias experiências etnográficas pessoais que tinham em comum uma atenção particular aos processos de construção de identidade urbana local, fosse nas festividades e representações de bairro em Lisboa, estudadas por Graça Cordeiro, nos graffiti e desportos de rua em Lisboa, Barcelona, New York e Rio de Janeiro, por Lígia Ferro ou na arquitectura, na musica e no planeamento urbanístico em Lisboa e Boston, por Tim Sieber. O resultado desta “excursão etnográfica” partilhada foi a escrita de um ‘relato em curso’ (work in progress) sobre uma forma particular de cultura visual urbana – os murais comunitários – que documentam, transmitem e representam formas de identidade através das suas histórias e narrativas locais. Tais formas de arte publica exprimem dinâmicas de organização colectiva, de segregação residencial, económica e étnica, de relações inter-étnicas e inter-geracionais, falando do papel central que a juventude assume nos processos de continuidade e mudança cultural citadina. A análise substantiva e cultural dos murais que aqui é feita, decorre, pois, de formas de colaboração de campo, em que as sinergias e o acaso ajudaram a estabelecer a ponte necessária entre um passado de experiências etnográficas concretas e a focalização num novo objecto de análise partilhado.Three anthropologists visited community murals in Boston, concentrating on the black and Latino neighborhoods of Roxbury, and Dorchester. With common interest in the ethnographic perspective, they moved toward a joint reflection on local murals. Our encounter with these murals drew on our previous ethnographic experience with festivals and neighborhood representation in Lisbon (GIC), with graffiti and street sports in Lisbon, New York, and Rio de Janeiro (LF), and with architecture, music, and urban planning in Lisbon and Boston (TS). We thus report on our resulting work in progress on a particular form of urban visual culture, community murals, that document, mediate, and represent local urban histories, places, and identities. These public works of art offer commentary on related dynamics of collective organization, of residential, economic, and ethnic segregation in the urban setting, inter-ethnic and inter-generational relations, and the role of youth in cultural continuity and change. The researchers’ concern is both with substantive cultural analysis of the murals, as well as with the serendipity, synergy, and collaboration they experienced in the field,  that helped them draw on their past urban ethnographic experiences in order to focus on a new, common object for analysis

UMass Boston’s Partnerships with the Brazilian Immigrant Center & Dominican Development Center

This partnership bridges the resources and knowledge of community members with those of an urban research university to influence policy and services that affect immigrant communities with the overall goal of promoting health, economic well-being, and culture

Em defesa da comunidade local e da consolidação da democracia numa cidade em processo de globalização: um exemplo de Boston

Boston, Massachusetts, EUA, exibe, em escala reduzida, as principais particularidades de uma “cidade mundial”, evidenciando os efeitos da globalização económica. As tendências incluem o crescente controlo económico estrangeiro, a crescente “deslocalização” do espaço da cidade, a gentrificação intensiva e novas vagas de imigrantes que engrossam os níveis mais baixos do sector terciário. Um bairro, o Dudley Street Corridor, resiste com sucesso à globalização a nível local, através da manutenção dos preços da propriedade imobiliária em níveis estáveis, mesmo aquando do colapso do mercado da habitação, da estabilidade social enquanto comunidade multiétnica e do controlo local do espaço urbano. O sucesso do bairro, em termos de autoprotecção, reflecte o trabalho da sua organização de planeamento local, a Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), usando um fundo de terrenos comunitário e um modelo de organização de partilha de espaço que cria laços de solidariedade entre populações de diferentes etnias e promove a democracia local unindo todos os residentes. A “democracia profunda”, nas palavras de Appadurai, e os habitantes urbanos reclamando o seu “direito à cidade”, nas palavras de LeFebvre, são disso o resultado.Boston, Massachusetts, USA, exhibits on a small scale cardinal features of a “world city,” showing effects of economic globalization. Trends include growing foreign economic control, increasing “delocalization” of city space, intensive gentrification, and new immigrant waves filling lower rungs of a service economy. One neighborhood, the Dudley Street Corridor, successfully resists globalization at the local level, by maintaining stable real estate prices during housing market collapse, social stability as a multi-ethnic community, and local control of urban space. The neighborhood’s success at self-defense reflects the work of its local planning organization, the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI), using a community land trust, and a place-oriented organizing model that builds solidarity across ethnic lines and promotes local democracy uniting all residents. “Deep democracy”, in Appadurai’s terms, and urban inhabitants claiming their “right to the city”, in LeFebvre’s terms, are the result.

Design and experimental setup of a new concept of an aerosol-on-demand print head

Aerosol jet printing is an alternative to inkjet printing, the currently most established fabrication technique for printed electronics, with the benefits of small feature sizes, more homogeneous thickness of the printed layers, and the possibility to print on 3D structures. Printers are available on the market, in which the aerosol is generated outside of the print heads, with the disadvantage that only continuous operation is possible due to the long distance between atomization unit and print head. We report on the development and validation of a new integrated principle, with the atomization of the ink directly inside the print head. This enables a compact design, printing in all spatial directions and jet-on-demand operation. Based on fluid dynamic simulations, an optimized integrated print head design was developed, and fabricated. First tests have been performed in a preliminary laboratory test setup. The successful focusing of the aerosol to approximately 1/7 of the spread of the non-focused aerosol spray was validated in experiments, thus confirming the operating principle of the new aerosol-on-demand print head

UMass Boston – Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership

The Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC) does organizing, advocacy and training to reduce marginalization of Brazilian immigrants, promoting their engagement as workers & civic participants. A worker’s center, BIC supports and defends workers’ rights under current state & US labor laws. BIC helps workers mediate complaints with employers, and refers others for class action suits, or intervention by the Mass. Attorney General or US Dept of Labor. A special focus at present is organizing mostly women domestic workers, and BIC has a new Law and Policy Clinic, a Domestic Worker Mediation Program, and an Immigration Justice Project staffed by two full-time public interest attorneys. The UMass faculty and staff listed above, and collaborating units such as the Labor Resource Center, UMass Labor Extension, the Anthropology Department, the Applied Linguistics Department, the Department of Community Relations, the Chancellor’s Office, the Office of Community Partnerships, and the Gastón Institute have all lent their support to Brazilian Immigrant Center activities on and off campus. The campus has made some of its spaces, such as the Campus Center Ballroom, and the Ryan Lounge, available for BIC partnership activities such as fundraisers, gala anniversary celebrations, and an art show benefit for Haitian orphans. Under Dr. Siqueira’s and Dr. Maria Idalí Torres’ leadership, the Gastón Institute has recently begun a new Transnational Brazilian Project, involving BIC, as well as universities and agencies in Brazil

UMass Boston – Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership

The Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC) does organizing, advocacy and training to reduce marginalization of Brazilian immigrants, promoting their engagement as workers & civic participants. A worker’s center, BIC supports and defends workers’ rights under current state & US labor laws. BIC helps workers mediate complaints with employers, and refers others for class action suits, or intervention by the Mass. Attorney General or US Dept. of Labor. A special focus at present is organizing mostly women domestic workers, and BIC has a new Law and Policy Clinic, a Domestic Worker Mediation Program, and an Immigration Justice Project staffed by two full-time public interest attorneys. The UMass faculty and staff mentioned above, and collaborating units such as the Labor Resource Center, UMass Labor Extension, the Anthropology Department, the Applied Linguistics Department, the Department of Community Relations, the Chancellor’s Office, and the Gaston Institute have all lent their support to Brazilian Immigrant Center activities on and off campus. The campus has made some of its spaces, such as the Campus Center ballroom, and the Ryan Lounge, available for BIC partnership activities such as fundraisers, gala anniversary celebrations, and an art show benefit for Haitian orphans. Under Dr. Siqueira’s and Dr. Maria Idalí Torres’ leadership, the Gaston Institute has recently begun a new Brazilian Initiative, involving outreach to Brazilian community organizations like BIC, as well as universities in Brazil

Stakeholders' perceptions on sustainability transition pathways of the cocoa value chain towards improved livelihood of small-scale farming households in Cameroon

Given the persistent poor livelihood of cocoa-farming households, future climate predictions and the worldwide demand pressure for higher cocoa quality and productivity, there is still a strong need to find new approaches that guarantee a sustainable cocoa future in cocoa-producing countries amongst which Cameroon is one of them. This exploratory research investigates potential future pathways for the cocoa sector in Cameroon by mapping the perceptions of actors involved in the socio-technical regime. Qualitative expert interviews, structured questionnaires and field observation, as well as a focus group discussion have been applied to understand how a sustainability transition can be triggered. The study shows that actors envisage a sustainability change which determines their actions; however, their perceptions towards future transitions are not actively coordinated. Actors are not finding a way of adopting new organizational structures and letting a transition occur effectively, like in the case of certification standards. An alignment of perceptions and activities, and a stronger cooperation between the private and public are strongly recommended. The study encourages to consider a coordination of actors' perceptions towards future scenarios as a starting point to study sustainability transitions

Stakeholders' perceptions on sustainability transition pathways of the cocoa value chain towards improved livelihood of small-scale farming households in Cameroon

Given the persistent poor livelihood of cocoa-farming households, future climate predictions and the worldwide demand pressure for higher cocoa quality and productivity, there is still a strong need to find new approaches that guarantee a sustainable cocoa future in cocoa-producing countries amongst which Cameroon is one of them. This exploratory research investigates potential future pathways for the cocoa sector in Cameroon by mapping the perceptions of actors involved in the socio-technical regime. Qualitative expert interviews, structured questionnaires and field observation, as well as a focus group discussion have been applied to understand how a sustainability transition can be triggered. The study shows that actors envisage a sustainability change which determines their actions; however, their perceptions towards future transitions are not actively coordinated. Actors are not finding a way of adopting new organizational structures and letting a transition occur effectively, like in the case of certification standards. An alignment of perceptions and activities, and a stronger cooperation between the private and public are strongly recommended. The study encourages to consider a coordination of actors' perceptions towards future scenarios as a starting point to study sustainability transitions