As relações entre Sírios e Libaneses no Rio de Janeiro entre 1900-1920

Abstract

This study analyze the arrival, representation and conflicts of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants between 1900 - 1920 in the city of Rio de Janeiro. It sought to identify the ways they were perceived when they arrived in the city, the self-representations they used for a favorable social insertion process and the group's internal conflicts. To reach the goal was used as source, reports from Rio's newspaper that treated about the presence of this immigrants in the city, columns and articles produced by Syrian journalists in this periodicals and the street occurrences, which repeatedly addressed the conflicts between members of this group in the city. During the research, we realized that due to the negative stereotypes attributed to Syrians and Lebanese during their city insertion process, the colony representatives strove to propagate a positive, peaceful and beneficial image of the group, image that which predominate in narratives and work on this immigration. However, through the street occurrences it was found that the group integration in this place did not occur only though bonds of friendship and harmony. Was noted that internal and external conflicts were also part of the process.