“PRAZER, SOU O MHD” – REFLEXÕES SOBRE NOMES PRÓPRIOS, IDENTIDADES E EQUÍVOCOS EM DOCUMENTOS DE MIGRANTES REFUGIADOS

Abstract

While assisting refugees in an NGO in Sao Paulo, I found documents that read MHD instead of Mohammed. Questions arose regarding names and identities, as well as the meaning of this and other Freudian slips in migrants’ documents. Through Hall (2006), Bauman (2005) and Silva (2000), I discuss identity perspectives. I find support on Mariani (2014) to understand the relationship between identities and given names. I present examples of online medias, academic texts and literary narratives to investigate the connection between name and existence. Finally, I present 17 cases of refugee families whose documents are: a) abbreviated; b) indicating different given or last names for the same person; c) indicating different last names for members of the same family. I show that the treatment given to the name reflects the treatment given to the person, and I point to assumptions of a subconscious subject with the power to name another without understanding them.