SSIIM Paper Series Vol. 9
Entre el centro y las periferias de la Região Metropolitana de São Paulo: la inserción territorial de los migrantes bolivianos en São Paulo
by Iara Rolnik Xavier
This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the socio-territorial insertion of Bolivian migrants in São Paulo Metropolitan Region, Brazil, by exploring the links between migratory processes and the logics underpinning the urban structure. On the basis of the analysis of quantitative data (in particular those of the year 2000 National Census), a polarization of their settlement patterns is observed: Bolivians are clustered in few very central or very peripheral spaces of the metropolis. The paper examine this fact showing that such a distribution is different and more complex than postulated by the common sense and previous academic works, usually focusing only on the central areas of the Metropolitan Region. Bolivians use and ways of belonging to these two places simultaneously shows that they are differently subjected to urban polarization and segregation drives. Upon these considerations, the work contributes to review the correlation between peripheral spaces and “the urban outcasts”, observing and learning from ‘places’ and their inhabitants.
