This proposal aligns with the IAFOR Conference Themes for 2025-2029, particularly Theme 3: Global Citizenship and Education for Peace. The primary focus of this presentation is coexistence — both among community members and with individuals from different countries, cultures, and backgrounds. This paper explores how the Brazilian community in Portugal is portrayed in the media through a mixed-method, longitudinal, and multidisciplinary approach, using the “Mães de Bragança” case as a key example. Since neither qualitative nor quantitative methods alone can fully capture the complexity or historical evolution of media narratives, the study employs a mixed-methods design with a qualitative emphasis. The methodology combines historical, socioethnographic, and theoretical perspectives, drawing on media, journalism, and migration studies, critical discourse analysis, postcolonial theory, and moral panic studies. A long-term sociohistorical approach situates media representations within broader political and cultural shifts. Systematic analysis of the press—mainly through Público newspaper—television, and digital media identifies patterns, stereotypes, and moments of symbolic conflict. The well-known Portuguese “Mães de Bragança” case serves as a small-scale example of this combined approach. It shows how gender, immigration, public morality, and media production connect in influential media events. The study improves understanding of how mixed methods can be used to analyze media discourse, journalism practices, and migration issues in a post-colonial setting. It reveals that media discourse shaped how immigrants are portrayed and perceived, influenced public attitudes, and hampered the integration of the Brazilian community in Portugal during the peak migration period from 2000 to 2025.

Authors:
Francisco Cádima, NOVA University of Lisbon, Portugal

About the Presenter(s)
Professor Francisco Cádima is currently a Researcher at ICNOVA – NOVA Institute of Communication (at NOVA FCSH - Universidade Nova de Lisboa - Portugal)

See this presentation on the full schedule – Thursday Schedule

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