Immobility, citizenship and belonging in London and São Paulo

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The fellowship will explore theories, ideas and experiences of immobility, belonging and citizenship in a globalised world. This will counter the focus in migration studies on mobility which overlooks how most people choose to stay despite possessing the means to migrate. Motivations and experiences of 'stayers' are just as rich, complex and worthy of research as those who migrate.Although there is literature at a local and regional scale, the concept of immobility, out of 'loyalty' to larger imagined social organisms such as country and 'people' is under-researched (Schewel, 2019). How citizens imagine immobility and how it affects their (non)migration decision making at an international level has implications for policy makers with an interest in population retention and developing citizenship. The contested nature of 'loyalty' to differing ideals also exposes the tension in the increasing political polarisation witnessed recently in Global North and South politics. Focusing on Brazil, this country is experiencing increasing emigration, particularly of its middle-class. This, combined with a below replacement fertility rate, means that understanding the motivations of those both wanting to stay and leave is imperative especially since my research suggested that these middle-class emigrants rarely send back remittances. Motivations for people to emigrate, immigrate or stay put in the UK context are also vital to understand for UK policy makers (Baldwin-Edwards et al. 2019).Recent populist voting in the Global South and North has exposed the tension between ideals of cosmopolitan 'world citizenship' in an interconnected globalised society and reactionary forces emerging via renewed nationalism and particularism. The fellowship will thus explore the geographical imaginary of the 'world city' and its 'world citizens' in both the Global North and South and its relationship to class and race as well as its disruption by populist events such as Brexit and Bolsonaro's election in Brazil. Brexit is important due to its impact on migration and migrant subjectivity, not least since my previous research showed migrants' sense of belonging often tied to London imagined as a 'world city' (Robins 2019). Further, the UK government recently announced that 'low-skilled' workers will be denied visas within a new points system (Home Office, 2020). My thesis showed that Brazilian migrants are often university educated and, despite many starting in low skilled jobs, rapidly achieve parity with previous careers in Brazil. The new migration system is in danger of overlooking such 'invisible' skilled workers (Salvatori & Terron-Caro, 2020; Ünlütürk-Ulutas & Akbas, 2020). Questions of how Brexit may disrupt migrant experiences as well as the practicalities of negotiating migrants' futures demand exploration.Similarly, at the time of my fieldwork, the prospect of Bolsonaro as President unsettled many people's imagining of São Paulo as a cosmopolitan world city. Now he is in office, it is timely to explore the effects of his election on belonging. I previously collected interview data on Brexit and Bolsonaro's election. Conducting a small follow up study with some of my participants will be fruitful permitted additional fieldwork under the fellowship's terms.To conclude, we must explore the relation between social class, world citizenship, migration, immobility and populism and how these concepts square with people from diverse social and ethnic background's need for a sense of social cohesion and belonging. My research seeks to understand issues of societal and political polarisation as well as establishing a concern for the needs and experiences of those affected by recent changes to the UK's identity as an EU member and Brazil's as a left leaning democracy. Therefore, although the output of the fellowship will be from the perspective of migration studies it will also make substantial contributions to political and cultural geography.