An analysis of the impacts of the pandemic among Brazilian immigrants in Portugal

Immigration, coloniality, and health and illness processes

Resumen

The existence of a global health crisis needs to be understood within the framework of general socio-environmental issues and within the framework of the Social Determinants of Health and the Social Determination of Health. This impacts living conditions and the psychological consequences of unprocessed grief and unfulfilled goodbyes. The experiences of immigrants reveal a double rupture with the typical paradox of migration processes, in which the search for better living conditions causes suffering in the migratory process and in the ties that immigrants cannot maintain in their country of origin. Based on a discussion of the social determinants of health, the Social Determination of Health, and ideas about coloniality applied to immigrant health, this article seeks to understand the experience of those interviewed during the COVID-19 pandemic, through ethnographic narratives of Brazilians who lived in Portugal or settled in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine interviews were conducted about the experiences of these Brazilians in Portugal, including their perceptions of the situation in Brazil during this critical period.