IMMIGRATION AND IMAGINATION: BRAZIL IN NEIRA VILAS' BOOKS

Abstract

The strong presence of Galicians outside the territory of Galicia makes the phenomenon of immigration and its political, social and cultural implications matters are frequently revisited in Galician studies. Many of these immigration studies observe Galician stereotypes through statistical data, literature and periodicals. However, little effort was given to the opposite path: what is Brazil's presence in Galician literature? In Xosé Neira Vilas’ work, we can observe some of these social representations of Brazil through immigrant eyes, mainly on the city of Salvador da Bahia. This article proposes a dialogue between current authorities on the subject of diaspora and Galician immigration such as Ramón Villares, Antón Corbacho Quintela and Érica Sarmiento and theoreticians of social representations and discourse analysis like Denise Jodelet and Teun van Dijk.