Breaking nation: Brazilian transnational children’s construction of belonging in bilingual classrooms

Abstract

This article explores Brazilian children’s belonging-making in Portuguese–English bilingual classrooms in the United States. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over fifteen months, we found that the participating Brazilian children frequently referenced Brazil in their classrooms. Through these references, the children forged their own conceptions of what belonging means and created spaces of belonging in their bilingual classrooms. Connections to Brazil were established through the evocation of memories, allusions to loved ones physically there, and by claiming identities as Portuguese speakers. We argue that the children’s actions and narratives had the effect of disrupting the tenets of traditional nations: common culture, territory, and language.