Present in absentia: Immigrant letters and requests for family reunification

Abstract

Immigrant letters are a major source to learn not only about the circumstances and challenges involved in the migratory experience, but especially the mentality of historical actors involved in it. This article seeks first to emphasize the importance of the topic; it then discusses the expansion of studies on the migrants’ letters, to finish by illustrating the aspirations and hesitations involving family reunification, as well as the control and authority exerted at a distance through a particular type of letters – the so-called requests for family reunification – written by Portuguese immigrants in São Paulo in the early 20th century.Keywords: immigrants’ letters, Portuguese immigration, gender and family relations.Immigrant letters are a major source to learn not only about the circumstances and challenges involved in the migratory experience, but especially the mentality of historical actors involved in it. This article seeks first to emphasize the importance of the topic; it then discusses the expansion of studies on the migrants’ letters, to finish by illustrating the aspirations and hesitations involving family reunification, as well as the control and authority exerted at a distance through a particular type of letters – the so-called requests for family reunification – written by Portuguese immigrants in São Paulo in the early 20th century.Keywords: immigrants’ letters, Portuguese immigration, gender and family relations