Migrants' Accounts of Rio.

The article explores the richness of the association between space, culture, and memory. It starts by indicating the importance of migration in the formation of Brazil and moves on to explore the relation between memory and space by showing how memories can be inscribed in the visible spatiality of a city. It goes briefly back to Marcel Proust's work in order to further suggest links between spatiality and remembrance. Finally Félix Guattari's notion of affect is used to account for the impact that spatial experiences may have upon us. The two spaces--previous and present--eventually superimpose forming a complex arrangement that conveys the idea of displacement. Throughout the article, selected, in-depth interviews with Italian and French immigrants who live in Rio de Janeiro--and who relate memories brought about by the experience of space--provide a lively and consistent background to the arguments proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]