Portuguese emigrants in France: the reintegration in Portuguese society

Abstract

Taking for his starting point a set of interviews with the families of emigrants that come back to Portugal, the author traces the «standard portrait» of the emigrant already returned home or susceptible to do it. In that sense, to catch the global context, the research is grounded in tre number of returns really occurred in five geographical zones, representative of the unequal development in Portugal (SABUGAL, a rural zone in decline; BRAGANÇA, small regional capital of an emigration zone; CALDAS DAS TAIPAS, an active semi-industrial, agricultural zone; SERPA, rural zone under change; LISBON, to measure the job chances offered to emigrants by the capital). The study of the local sphere also reveals the social and economic background ind which the insertion is made, makes it possible to measure the consequences of emigration in departure zones and to evaluate whether their development may consent or not the coming back of a great number of emigrants.