Pedro dos Santos

I’m learning that numbers matter—but talking to people matters more.
Next posts: insights from interviews with Brazilians in Minnesota.

And then there’s identity.
I was born in Brazil, lived there until 20, and have lived in the U.S. for 25+ years. I have dual citizenship.
I consider myself Brazilian—but in Brazil, I’m called “gringo.”

Why is it hard to count?
Many don’t respond to the Census. Brazilians often fall into two categories:
🧩 Hard-to-Count
🧩 Historically Undercounted
Especially true for undocumented and recent arrivals.

If the U.S. Census counts ~500K Brazilians and the Brazilian government estimates 2M, a simple extrapolation suggests ~11K Brazilians in MN.
But that ignores regional patterns—most Brazilians settle on the East Coast.

📊 Three estimates:
Census (via MPI): 1,960
Instituto Diáspora: 2,775
CityVision (Twin Cities only): 5,000
All based on 2020–2021 data. Likely undercounts.

🇧🇷 Brazilians in Minnesota: Three Numbers (and a question)
How many Brazilians live here—and who counts as Brazilian?

professordos.substack.com/p/os-brasile...

Brasil em Minnesota | Pedro dos Santos | Substack Compartilhando meu projeto Etendendo Brasileiros em Minnesota. Click to read Brasil em Minnesota, by Pedro dos Santos, a Substack publication. Launched 3 days ago.

Nos próximos dias, vou compartilhar entrevistas com brasileiros que vivem em Minnesota. Histórias reais de quem constrói comunidade longe de casa.

📎 Leia o post completo: professordos.substack.com

#DiásporaBrasileira #Imigração #Minnesota #BrasileirosNosEUA #Educação #Substack #ProfessorDosSantos

📍 Mais de 80% dos brasileiros vivem na costa leste
📍 A região consular de Chicago (que inclui Minnesota) tem números menores, mas está crescendo
📍 Minnesota tem oficialmente 2.775 brasileiros — mas sabemos que há muito mais!

No meu último post, analisei os dados do Ministério das Relações Exteriores e do Instituto Diáspora Brasil sobre a população brasileira nos Estados Unidos.

Listening to Omar El Akkad’s One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, and this quote hit home: “The immigrant class (…) is segregated by many things, chief among them narrative. Some are afforded the privilege of an arrival story a homecoming, others only departure after departure.”

Play Like a Girl: An Analysis of Media Representation of Female Athletes This paper critically examines the relationship between media representation of female athletes and the public opinion of female athletes. Research has shown that female athletes are more likely to be...

Source:
Mannion, Katherine A. (2016) "Play Like a Girl: An Analysis of Media Representation of Female Athletes," Proceedings of GREAT Day: Vol. 2015, Article 17.
knightscholar.geneseo.edu/proceedings-...

Source:
Breazier, Brianna R. An Examination of How the Media Portrayed Professional Female Athletes during the 2023 Women’s World Cup in the Match-up between Spain and the United States. Thesis: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spring 2024

digitalcommons.unl.edu/journalismpr...

We should all support and watch women’s soccer and not just for their appearance but for their dedication and skills for the game. This would allow young women athletes to have someone to look up to. Let’s share women’s soccer for what it is: real, competitive, and worth watching.​

Girls drop out of sports way younger and more often than boys, and a reason for this is that there are less role models in the media.​

After a survey by Katherine Mannion on college students’ perceptions of Alex Morgan, 36% objectified her rather than acknowledged her for all her accomplishments!

In 2023, a study by Brianna Breazier, 33% of U.S. articles about the Women’s World Cup focused more on a controversial kiss than on Spain winning it all for the first time ever. THE KISS WAS SHOWN MORE THAN THE TEAM THAT WON THE WORLD CUP!!

Women’s soccer is growing — but still not equally seen. From media ignoring achievements to focusing on appearance, coverage still falls short.

Post created by students in my Global Gender Issues Class.

It will be hard to get rid of an ideology that is so deeply rooted into a culture but even acknowledging the problem is a step in the right direction. This should not discourage you rather motivate you to be a voice for those that cannot speak. #NiUnaMas

Violence against women has many negative influences like machismo. Regardless of the research that supports the idea that more women representatives are needed to support feminist policies, it is hard to integrate women into politics due to the violence they face.

The fight to eliminate violence against women especially in Latin America is not an easy battle.

Violence against women is a big issue, and it will continue to increase if the right measures to combat it are not taken. But how can we create a change?

My student Tania Salgado created the content below reflecting on her literature review project in my Global Gender Issues class:

Nonmainstream left parties and women’s representation in Western Europe | Request PDF Request PDF | Nonmainstream left parties and women’s representation in Western Europe | Ideology is one of the most relevant variables in explaining the level of women’s representation attained by pol...

Source: Keith, D. J., & Verge, T. (2018). Nonmainstream left parties and women’s representation in Western Europe. Party Politics, 24(4), 397-409.
www.researchgate.net/publication/...

Despite hopes for progress, European Parliament elections led to a decline in women’s representation First European elections to result in a decrease in wome

Sources: European Institute for Gender Equality. (2024, September 4). Despite hopes for progress, European Parliament elections led to a decline in women’s representation. European Institute for Gender Equality.
eige.europa.eu/gender-stati...

This demonstrates the importance that the ideology of a political party has on its probability of running female candidates and measures political parties could take to increase aspiring female candidates.

Equality guarantees measures: involve mandatory steps taken to increase gender equality such as the implementation of gender quotas, typically seen in left wing parties and leads to an increase in female candidates.

Equality promotion measures: voluntary steps taken by political parties like candidate training programs, typically utilized by right wing parties and leads to less female candidates.

This is demonstrated through the use of equality promotion or equality guarantee measures.