The struggle against “ethnic cysts”: identity, assimilation and immigration policy in the Estado Novo.

Abstract

This article analyses the repressive policy against foreign workers in Brazil during the Estado Novo, when immigrant groups which could be characterized by racial and cultural isolation are described as “ethnic cysts” and investigated by Immigration and Colonization Council. In the context of Second World War, debates on assimilation and miscegenation would be influenced also by the classification of immigrant workers as a military threat.