Constructing a city, building a life: Brazilian construction workers' continuous mobility as a permanent life strategy. Issue 5 (3rd September 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gama Gato, Luana; Salazar, Noel B.
• Is Part Of: Mobilities. Volume 13:Issue 5(2018)
• Page Start: 733
• Page End: 745
• Publication Date: 2018-09-03
• Subjects: Mega-events -- Olympics -- Brazil -- construction -- labor mobility -- internal migration -- anthropology; Transportation -- Periodicals; 300.5
• DOI: 10.1080/17450101.2018.1466504
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-0101

Abstract

Abstract: This article provides an ethnographic analysis of domestic labor mobility among Brazilian construction workers in the context of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. We start from the premise that mobile laborers are crucial for the physical development and expansion of cities. However, the importance of domestic migrants in this process is insufficiently addressed in mobility studies. Building on existing research on domestic population movements in Brazil, we argue that the current generation of mobile construction workers draws on the intangible and material infrastructure generated by previous generations of migrants to enable novel kinds of (permanent) labor mobilities.