International immigration in the São Paulo macrometropolis: new and old questions

Abstract

The objective of this work is to relate the transformations in the urban dynamics of the São Paulo Macrometropolis to the new faces of its international immigration. Our hypothesis is that changes in the social division of labor at the global level reconfigure the organization forms of the metropolis, attributing new economic functions to its municipalities and changing the profile of their international immigrants. In addition to a theoretical discussion on productive restructuring, metropolization and international migration, the article retrieves administrative records from different government agencies (Federal Police and National Committee for Refugees) that reinforce the change in the profile of international immigration in this area. In the analysis of the new flows, we highlight the process of population replacement and the production of new ethnic landscapes in these territories.