Mulheres de “Canistas”: um estudo sobre as relações de gênero em famílias de migrantes.

Abstract

This research has the purpose of understanding how the gender relations occur in families of the Sertão of Paraíba, where is annually experienced periods of male presence and absence. We use a unique look at the mothers and wives of northeastern workers which, every sugar cane harvest, will offer their workforce in factories of the State of São Paulo, aiming to understand how such women experience these two periods and this experience lead to family and gender reconfigurations. The field research was performed at the rural property of Domingos Ferreira, situated in the city of Tavares, in the countryside of the State of Paraíba. By using qualitative methodologies, such as ethnography and Oral History, we seek to highlight more than what is said, what is public, and what is on show, but what is silenced, that is not done, which is between the lines of gestures and words, in the hidden speech of every woman. Our interest consists in observe the everyday life of women who are in the context of permanently temporary migrations, and understand how they “sew” a life permeated by two times and two places.