This article aims to discuss contemporary migrations from the perspective of material
culture. The discussion presented here assumes that material culture plays
a significant part in all migration processes by establishing lines of continuity
between present and past, confirming and reproducing identity and belonging,
framing everyday life and displaying new positioning strategies. Beginning with
two snapshots of recent ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Brazil and Canada,
I hope to contribute to the discussion of contemporary migration through studying
the lens of materiality and the role it plays in these processes. It will be argued that
material culture is a productive tool, not only to address the grounds, motivations
and resources people activate in order to utilize migration as an effective option, but
also to discuss the relationships between movement, settling, cultural reproduction
and innovation.
