The Migration of Ghosts
• The common Western experience is flipped: instead of a Westerner experiencing the Third World, it’s a Brazilian experiencing Europe. We see our normal through different eyes, which decentres that normality, especially since its strangeness is not experienced as a good thing.
• ‘Migration of Ghosts’ actual short story: disparity between Loretta’s home and Europe’s great sites is to do with the injustice caused by capitalist accumulation of resources; resources used to make all the buildings and money that are present there.
• ‘The last breath of communism’ – communism exists in South America still, this ‘last breath’ doesn’t apply to Brazil where there are still movements even if they have little political representation
• ‘For reasons she herself did not fully understand, she had reverted to a mood of resistance to these outings’ – specifically to London, but really to all of Europe.
• Looking at the tall, shiny buildings and quality of life makes Loretta ashamed of her own people and the ‘shacks’ they live in.