The Africanos of República

With the increasing complexity of migration control procedures in the North and the globalisation of the South, migration routes now follow sporadic and multipolar patterns. The movement of Africans to Brazil, which began in the 2000s owing to open border policies, illustrates this new situation and marks a new phase in the migratory history of this South American country. The República district, in the heart of São Paulo, plays a key role in these new movements and is a meeting point for African migrants—a place to settle, work, and consume. The modalities of integration in the city, particularly through ethnic trade and the social life that it produces, contribute to the emergence of an African hub that is redefining certain urban fragments of the South American metropolis.