DOI: 10.1177/02134748261446390 ISSN: 0213-4748

Gendered Racial Migratory Fatigue Among Black Migrant Women in Brasil: The Role of Microaggressions and Impostorism in Workplace Experiences / Fatiga migratoria racial y de género entre mujeres migrantes negras en Brasil: el pa

Ligia Carolina Oliveira-Silva, Laísla Araújo Pontes, Deniel Gomes Frutuoso, Daniela P. Fernández, Larissa Paula Martins, Heila Magali da Silva Veiga, Michelle K. Ryan

Social psychological research on migration has largely prioritized Global South–to–Global North flows, leaving South–South dynamics underexplored. Addressing this gap, this study investigated how racialized gender microaggressions and impostor feelings jointly shape perceived barriers and coping among Black migrant women from Latin America and Africa working in Brasil’s information technology (IT) sector. We conducted a sequential mixed-methods study with an intra-categorical intersectional design. In Phase 1, data from Black migrant women ( N  = 72) indicated that impostor feelings were positively associated with microaggressions, which, in turn, were positively associated with racial and gendered barriers. In Phase 2, results from interviews ( n  = 10) about the same variables from Phase 1 were analyzed to triangulate results. Findings showed that participants’ experiences were shaped by racism, sexism, and xenophobia, contributing to an exhaustion we termed Gendered Racial Migratory Battle Fatigue (GRMBF). Participants’ coping strategies included community-building and rights-claiming. The study advances an intersectional, Global South perspective that reframes microaggressions and impostorism as socially produced outcomes rather than exclusionary perceptions that require individual adaptation.

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