Two faces of God : religion and social class in the Brazilian diaspora in Sydney

Brazilian immigration to Australia has two defining moments. The first migrants arrived in the early 1970s, attracted by an Australian Government assistance scheme. These were poor migrants and today still belong to the working class. The second group started arriving in the late 1990s. By contrast with the first group, these are young professionals who are highly educated and belong to the upper-middle class. They usually migrate as students (and end up staying) or in search of a better lifestyle. Indeed, most of the new migrants I interviewed told me they thought of migrating to either Canada or Australia, but decided for Australia because of the warm weather and the beach culture. They usually take up professional jobs in Australia (they work as doctors, dentists, teachers, lawyers and so on). More often than not, they migrate individually, speak English and socialise with and marry Australians. Following the immense gap between the educated and uneducated/wealthy and poor in Brazilian society, the community in Australia is internally fractured between these two groups.