Cleaning Under the Rug: Brazilian Housecleaner Immigrant Women in Boston, 1980-2000

by Sonia Melo de Jesus

Abstract:

Adopting Benedict Anderson's concept of nations as "imagined communities" to understand the large Brazilian community in Boston, as it is nation within the U.S., my project discusses the lives and common fears, worries and daily attitudes of Brazilian housecleaners in Boston; the networks surrounding the housecleaning market for Brazilian immigrant women, and its implications for their personal lives. Accordingly, I carried out 15 oral interviews between March and May 2002 with Brazilian women who immigrated to the U.S. between the years 1980-2000. I use information and insights from these interviews as primary source material for this study. I analyze some of the deeper themes that emerge from these fascinating life stories and investigate some of the people who are helping to construct "Brazil in Boston."