This article proposes an interpretation of the ways by which the term assimilation was used in Brazil in three different periods. It also presents a reconceptualization of the term based on Remaking the American Mainstream: Assimilation and Contemporary Immigration, by Richard Alba and Victor Nee, published originally in 2003. The argument is that the new formulation proposed by these authors can contribute to a more precise understanding of the different trajectories in the incorporation of foreign immigrant groups in Brazilian society in the past and present.
assimilation; immigration; national formation; cultural change; ethnicity; pluralism