The institutional habitus in Brazilian immigration policy – a transversal perspective – nation-state legitimation

Abstract

Immigration discourse is part of an institutional habitus and is also part of immigrants’ lifeworlds. Thus, there are distinct perceptions regarding immigration. These perceptions presuppose power relations, naturalized and constructed in and through immigration discourse. Further, these relations refer to hierarchies in contexts in which multiple truths are constructed. These truths are arguments that empower State hegemony in which immigrants are constructed as threats to national security or to the Brazilian labor market; or as highly skilled workers on this market. At the same time, demands from human rights groups and legal stipulations generate other public discourses within the institutional habitus, thus it is important to understand how discipline, control and access are constructed in relation to a Discourse Historical Approach (Reisigl & Wodak, Ietçu-Fairclough, 2008) and contextual legitimation.