Datta Mobile

“migration is first and foremost a series of physical embodied events which involve different emotional experiences including the pain of separation, regret, disappointment, a strong sense of grief as well as pride,
excitement, contentment and acceptance.”1
tendency of Brazilian respondents to identify themselves as “White”2
tendency for men to come from middle classes in their home countries.3
work in 1) “semi-public” space such as London Underground and construction 2) in what are traditionally feminine roles such as cleaning and care.4
“Thus, throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, for example, the Brazilian economy experienced repeated periods of high inflation and economic instability, and declining job opportunities for those with professional qualifications or university training. As a result, and as many Brazilians found, in the face of economic decline at home even ‘low-paid’ menial work in northern hemisphere countries such as the US paid more than professional work in Brazil”5
idealized visions of London encouraging migration.6
migration linked to 1) risk-taking 2) self-improvement 3) need to support family, (in case of Brazilians) often children from previous marriages.7
For relatively prosperous Brazilian young men, migration means of escaping shadow of parents, who might accept migration as a means of instilling work ethic in sons.8
significance of experience of friends and family who have already migrated to London.9
tendency of Brazilians to overstate their success and prosperity in migrating to the UK.10
“Their narratives touched upon the cold grey uninviting weather, finding their way around a
vast unfamiliar city, a fear of getting lost and accounts of difficulties speaking English”11

Points to the way in which migrant's identity shaped by the British immigration system. Restrictions upon low skilled workers from outside EU creating increasing hierarchy between “legal” and “illegal” migrants reflected in their status back home.12 arrival in the UK often traumatic process, often seen to require specific masculine skills.13

sense of isolation and vulnerability on arrival.14
“men described the fear – and shame – that was part and parcel of day-to-day
life as ‘an illegal’ – a life characterised by the constant threat of arrest and deportation.”15 fear of deportation may increase loneliness by reducing visits back to home country.16
“Ethnic segmentation has long been the result of stereotyping on the part of employers, the
role of ethnic networks in employment searches, as well as institutional discrimination”17
“rather than dwelling solely on a loss of status through de-skilling and dequalification, the men also dwelled upon the hard nature of this work which can be seen as a way of highlighting their manliness and also restoring some value to these jobs”18

“London’s construction sites, for example, were dominated by Brazilians, South Africans, Poles, Czechs,
Albanians, and Armenians,”19

self-worth compensated by denigrating other ethnic groups, example given of an anti-Polish Brazilian construction worker.20 shared emphasis on poor working ethnic of British population.21
desire to return home, but as a success.22

Brazilians: being in UK often seen as growing as a person/ maturity.23

migration experience justified in terms of “delayed gratification”24
1K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 4.
2K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 7.
3K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 8.
4K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 8.
5K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 8–9.
6K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 10.
7K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 10–12.
8K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 13.
9K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 13–14.
10K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 14.
11K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 15.
12K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 16.
13K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 17.
14K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 18.
15K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 19.
16K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 20.
17K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 21.
18K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 23.
19K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 25.
20K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 25.
21K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 27–28.
22K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 27.
23K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 28.
24K Datta, C Mcllwaine, Y Evans, J Herbert, J May & J Willis, Mobile Masculinities: Men, Migration and Low Paid Work in London, (London: Queen Mary University of London, 2008) available online at www.geog.qmul.ac.uk/globalcities/reports/docs/wp9.pdf, 29.