The “Armenian renaissance” in Brazil is a process of the simultaneous establishment of a network of community entities, the diffusion of the Armenian language and religion, and the creation of a nucleus of entrepreneurs of Armenian origin in the shoe industry in São Paulo. My central argument is that not one of these three processes can be understood in isolation, since the economic activities only exist when rooted in a cultural substrate which gives them meaning. The production of Armenian identity on Brazilian soil is a collective project, where each individual included in the identification of “Armenian” has an interest in being included—an interest inextricably emotive, cultural, religious and economic—in the collectivity of the Brazilian Armenian community. The convergence of the individual interests of the “average” Armenian with those of the diverse leadership of the community, who extract their strength precisely from their position as spokesmen, provides the elements for the “production of identities.”