The power of portunhol: Bolivian paulistano culture in Sao Paulo, Brazil

The occurrence of Portunhol in transnational Bolivian paulistano culture stems from the linguistic need to shift from one's home culture language of Spanish to that of the host culture language of Portuguese. Through historical background data and theoretical context of existing research on Bolivian immigration to Brazil, I developed a case study on the use of Portunhol by the non-government organization (NGO) Centro do Apoio ao Imigrante (CAMI). CAMI primarily serves transnational Bolivians working in the paulistano garment industry, who traditionally lack documentation on both federal (visa) and state (work) levels. Recently, partially due to Amnesty Law nº 5.655/2009, immigrant documentation legitimacy is on the rise. I attribute this change to the use of Portunhol between CAMI and the population they serve. I use Bourdieu's theory of symbolic capital to define Portunhol as social capital acting as an integration tool for CAMI and Bolivians who regularly use the language.