Research Activities
Research Projects
Efforts to Address the Safety Issues of Foreigners in Sao Paulo, the City of Immigrants(2022_1_40_005)
Outline
As globalization proceeds, more and more people are becoming interested in moving across national borders, and many studies have been conducted to investigate the circumstances of immigrants and foreigners gathering in cities. One concern is the safety of foreigners who are more likely to be the target of crime due to their vulnerability, and some efforts are being made to address this concern. Many foreigners live and visit Sao Paulo, which is the largest population and economic center in Brazil. However, security is inferior in Sao Paulo, which has a very high crime rate. Based on this awareness, this study analyzes efforts to address the safety issues of foreigners in Sao Paulo. I previously conducted a study focusing on the Japanese police box system introduced by the state of Sao Paulo as a community-based security measure and found that foreigners have little connection with places to share information on security because of their personal circumstances. Therefore, in the present study, I set the question, "What kind of efforts are being made to ensure the safety of foreigners in Sao Paulo, and how effective are they?" I will test the hypothesis, "although government and private-sector efforts are being made, foreigners may reside or work illegally, encounter language barriers, not interact much with Brazilians, and live in specific areas. Therefore, the effectiveness of efforts to address the safety issues of foreigners is limited." I will utilize the data of interview surveys and participant observations conducted by the proposer to the parties concerned regarding each region’s "Community Security Council," the NGOs and churches that support foreign immigrants, and districts where many foreigners live and work, in addition to the police boxes in Sao Paulo. Then, I will attempt to perform qualitative analysis mainly by the ethnographic approach, with a focus on institutional development, actor actions, and their interaction in sociology as a framework.
Period
April 2022 - March 2023
Leader of the Research Project
Publications
Paper Submission to Peer-Reviewed Journal