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German Migration to Brazil in Global Perspective: Trends and New Directions

Under review

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Among my most recent projects is a paper written in summer 2024, reflecting on the bicentennial of German migration to Brazil. Across the migrations of the nineteenth century, only the United States saw more immigrants from German Europe. The reason to reflect on the relationship between Germany and Brazil, however, goes deeper than sheer volume. Not only have new research in global and transnational history provided new coordinates for understanding the bicentennial of German migration to Brazil, but also, I argue, these coordinates offer a broader contribution to global history in general: this story provides a unique vista onto the tripartite problematic of nation, market, and state at local, regional, national and global scales. How did individuals and groups construct their identities and affiliations in a world of nationalizing and racializing states? How did increasing economic interconnection change that construction and demand it anew? And how did states themselves respond: how did constituents make the case for more robust national ties amid transnational exchange? These are the questions that guide new research on the seemingly small topic of German migration to Brazil—that they are foundational for global history writ large is no coincidence.

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