Searching for a Better Life: Peri-Urban Migration in Western Para State, Brazil

The world today is an urban world. While rural to urban migration has contributed significantly to the increased urbanization of the globe, that process has not always been as clear and permanent as it appears. In this paper we report on the migration of smallholders to peri-urban interface (PUI) zo...

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Published inGeographical review Vol. 104; no. 3; pp. 294 - 309
Main Authors Macdonald, Trilby, Winklerprins, Antoinette M. G. A.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.07.2014
American Geographical Society
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Agriculture
Amazon
America
Analysis
Bgi / Prodig
Brazil
Brazil. Amazonian Basin
caboclos
Cities
colonos
Deforestation
Demographic aspects
Farmers
Human geography
Infrastructure
Internal migration
Migration
Migration research
Pará
peri-urban interface
Population
Researchers
Rural areas
Rural urban migration
Small-scale farming
Social aspects
Studies
Suburban areas
Urban areas
Brazil
Pará
Portugal
Living conditions
Periurban development
Migration
Livelihood
Agriculture
Internal migration
Social geography
Community
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Summary:The world today is an urban world. While rural to urban migration has contributed significantly to the increased urbanization of the globe, that process has not always been as clear and permanent as it appears. In this paper we report on the migration of smallholders to peri-urban interface (PUI) zones in western Pará state, Brazil. We found that rural-urban migrants were constrained by their lack of marketable skills and as a consequence had few job prospects and experienced a low quality of life in the cities to which they had migrated. This led them to resettle in places at the PUI where they have the ability to supplement limited wages with more familiar subsistence activities, which reflected cultural identity and rural antecedents while enjoying a higher quality of life. The recent implementation in Brazil of a variety of conditional cash-transfer programs has added to the attractiveness of peri-urban places and contributes to a regional shift to livelihoods based on a combination of agriculture and extractivism supplemented by support from federal assistance programs.
Bibliography:istex:3D7F837A2EB8F6DEE31D2796BDEA98E99AD22293
ArticleID:GERE12027
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We are immensely grateful to the Department of Geography, the Graduate School, and Robert N. Thomas at Michigan State University for the support of the master's thesis research that is the basis for this article. Natalino Alves de Sousa with the Projeto Saude e Alegría in Santarém was invaluable in advising the choice of field sites and providing background on the history of the region. An earlier version of this work was presented at the 2012 Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers meeting in Merida, Mexico. The writing of this manuscript was supported by the National Science Foundation while the corresponding author worked at the Foundation. Any opinion, finding, conclusions, or recommendation expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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ISSN:0016-7428
1931-0846
DOI:10.1111/j.1931-0846.2014.12027.x