Title not available in English.

Abstract

Saudade, immigration and the construction of a (Portuguese) desterritorialized nation. Based on ethnohistorical research (1910-1990) conducted in New Bedford, an industrial town of New England, U. S.A, this paper is directed at unveiling an apparent paradox: on the one hand, the analysis of domestic structures indicated that there has been since the late 1970's both an intensification of old and the emergence of new forms of transnationalism among Portuguese families; and, on the other hand, the observation of grass-roots “community events” suggested a simultaneous and progressive increase of ethnic insularity. Although they may seem contradictory, the seemingly paradoxical trends can be shown to result from the same dynamics. This dynamics is related to the progressive internationalization of the world economy, nation-states changing forms of control over international migrants and the (re)construction of imagined communites (Anderson 1983) that may be spatially dispersed.