Communication Commons^™

The Cape Verde Jews: An Identity Puzzle, Marco Piazza

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

The American historian and epistemologist Hayden White said that «there can be no ‘proper history’ which is not at the same time ‘philosophy of history’» (1973, p. XI). But it could also be argued that one cannot make history of philosophy or history of ideas without working on historical data. The data on which I would like to draw attention in this contribution are seemingly reducible to a small thing: they refer to a micro-history that has left few traces, some tombs, surnames, oral memories, and a couple of toponyms. In these pages I will try to show how emblematic …

Editor’S Note, Joao J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Negotiating Afro-Jewish Identity In The Cabo Verdean Diaspora, Alma Gottlieb

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

In this paper, I explore how diasporic Cabo Verdean-Americans with Jewish ancestry (especially those living in the New England region of the U.S.) experience their racially and spiritually mixed (and doubly or even triply stigmatized) identity. Being African in (racist) North America presents enormous challenges. Being Jewish in (increasingly anti-Semitic) North America presents different but somewhat parallel challenges. To account for unexpected identity crossings, I combine critical race theory with a Geertzian approach to understanding social worlds. In chronicling the experiences of Cape Verdeans who embrace divergent components of their multi-layered racial and spiritual heritage, I consider whether Cabo Verdeans …

Whose Independence? Cabo Verdean-Americans And The Politics Of National Independence Of Cabo Verde (1972-1976), Abel Djassi Amado

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

In this paper, I argue that anti-colonial politics in the late colonial period of Cape Verde had an important diasporic content. During the 1960s, Cabo Verde began a long, increasingly violent effort to attain independence from Portugal (finally achieved in 1975). Diasporic Cabo Verdeans in the US responded in surprisingly variable ways to the political resistance claiming their national homeland. In this paper, I focus on responses by two political groups that emerged as central in the Cabo Verdean diaspora: the PAIGC-USA Support Committee and the Juridical Congress of World Cape Verdean Communities. I argue that these two groups constituted …

Journal Of Cape Verdean Studies, Vol. 5 Special Edition On Migration

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Incidences Of Return Migration: International Students From Cape Verde, David Almeida, Joao Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Where Blackness And Cape Verdeanness Intersect: Reflections On A Monoracial And Multiethnic Reality In The United States, Callie Watkins Liu

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

As a Black American and fourth generation Cape Verdean American growing up in the United States, I’ve found that race and ethnicity are frequently conflated in ways that obscure my social reality and identity or put two integrated parts of myself into opposition with each other. In examining my own ethno-racial experience, I use critical race studies and identity construction to disentangle the structural concepts of race and ethnicity and build a frame work for understanding my own integrated existence within the United States. My personal trajectory is situated within the current and historical sociostructural context of Diaspora, White Supremacy …

Kriola Culture Of Mobility: Towards A New Research Paradigm, Janine De Novais

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Inspired by the display of ingenuity and resilience at the 2018 Poderoza Conference for Cabo Verdean women, this theoretical essay calls for research that takes up a Kriola culture of mobility (KCM). Neckerman, Carter and Lee (1999) define a minority culture of mobility as “a set of cultural elements that is associated with a minority group, and that provides strategies for managing economic mobility in the context of discrimination and group disadvantage.” After Neckerman and colleagues, I argue that KCM research can explore and clarify the intersectional and multicultural dynamics that attend the sociocultural mobility that Cabo Verdean women in …

A Note From Guest Editor, Terza A. Silva Lima-Neves

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Our time is now. It is the time to redefine our identities in our own voices, reflecting our stories, creating legacies that we are all proud of leaving behind for future generations.

The valuable contributions made by Cabo Verdean women to their communities across the globe have been vast and diverse. However, if one does a search of the words or subject “Cabo Verdean women” or “Kriola”, the yielded results are of hypersexual, tightly dressed, and sensual beings. Similarly in music videos, social media and film, the Kriola is more often than not featured for her physical attributes and not …

Family History And Genealogy: The Benefits For The Listener, The Storyteller And The Community, Anna Lima

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Thanks to the internet, discovering one’s ancestry is just a few clicks sway. Family histories and genealogies with intricate family trees filled with dates of birth, marriage dates, and death dates are meticulously documented for posterity. This process entails hours of research through census, immigration, baptism, and obituary records if you’re able to access them. There’s nothing greater for a genealogist to discover another generation of previously unknown ancestors and to tell the rest of your family. One would think that genealogy is a very new area of research since our ancestors obviously didn’t bother to pass this information on …

Youth And Politics: Is There Space For Youth In Cabo-Verdean Politics?, Aleida Mendes Borges

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

All over Africa young people face serious economic, social and emotional challenges in their everyday lives as the generation hardest hit by the failures of neoliberalism (Honwana 2012). In the absence of political role models, this so-called ‘waithood generation’, has rejected traditionally understood notions of political participation associated with representative democracy and are taking the role of active citizens moving away from the ‘myopic obsession’ over voting and party systems.

In Cabo Verde in particular, where politics are characterised by vertical relations of everyday political life and citizen-state interactions, this paper analyses young people as a window to understanding broader …

Cape Verdean Theatre: Enacting Political Theory And Reclaiming Roots For Crioulo Performance, Eunice S. Ferreira

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Shining a spotlight on the Cape Verde Islands illuminates the rich diversity of theatre of the African diaspora and places its unique crioulo identity and creole identities in general, center stage. This article focuses on the post-independence theatre movement in Cape Verde where the re-Africanization theories of Amílcar Cabral (assassinated PAIGC leader in Cape Verde’s liberation struggle) shaped national identity and guided the pioneering work of theatre troupe Korda Kaoberdi (Wake up, Cape Verde). Under the dynamic leadership of Francisco Gomes Fragoso, a medical doctor who adopted the artistic name of Kwame Kondé, the troupe Korda Kaoberdi sought to create …

Traversing Transdisciplinary Pathways: Suturing Knowledges In Search Of Elucidation, João Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Representação E Comportamento Politico Na Perspetiva Do Género Em Cabo Verde, Roselma Évora

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

O artigo apresenta um retrato da representação politica por sexo em Cabo Verde após a abertura politica feita em 1991. Ainda que a democracia tenha permitido trazer a participação das mulheres nas esferas de decisão do país, as evidências indicam uma profunda desigualdade de representação das mulheres no processo de decisão do arquipélago. Para compreendermos esse retrato tomamos em conta as dimensões institucionais e culturais, considerando tais dimensões determinantes para entendermos o desequilíbrio de representação daquele país.

Reading In Cape Verde: Instructional Practices And Teacher Attitudes, David Almeida

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Given that no extensive study on reading instruction and reading attitudes has been carried out country-wide in The Republic of Cabo Verde, (a ten island archipelago off the western coast of Africa), educational practitioners and policy makers in that nation are left with a dearth of accurate information when making decisions surrounding these constructs in the classroom, in the universities, or in the policy rooms of that nation. In a 2007 article, Commeyras & Inyega published research on reading instruction in Kenya and encouraged researchers to follow their example, i.e. to locate all pertinent literature and to conduct a review …

Cape Verdean Counter Cultural Hip-Hop(S) & The Mobilization Of The Culture Of Radical Memory: Public Pedagogy For Liberation Or Continued Colonial Enslavement, Ricardo D. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

The paper traces the possibilities and limitations of transnational Cape Verdean Hip-Hop’s mobilization of the culture of radical memory for the disruption of racialized transnational capitalism and neocolonialism. One of the most common reference points, both in the symbolic formations of popular culture and emerging scholarly texts is the focus on CV Hip-Hop’s embrace of the life and work of Amilcar Cabral. Undoubtedly, Cape Verdean Hip-Hop Culture(s) & Cape Verdean youth counter-culture(s), more broadly, continues to serve as the most vital space for the (re)mobilization and (re)invigoration of Cabral’s thought, yet, much more is unfolding in these spaces. The paper …

Breaking Their Silence On Intimate Partner Violence: Discussions With Cape Verdean Women, Dawna M. Thomas

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Family/intimate partner violence is a serious social problem, with women and children victimized at profoundly higher rates than adult males. Although the domestic violence community has worked tirelessly to develop programs to reach culturally diverse women, Cape Verdean women continue to be underserved and misunderstood. The Cape Verdean Women’s Project was a qualitative study with women who shared their experiences with intimate partner violence. A feminist theoretical framework offers a foundation for examining the Cape Verdean women’s experiences with intimate partner violence and for developing recommendations for working with the community to develop intervention and prevention strategies. This article presents …

Human Development, Economic Policy And Income Inequality In Cabo Verde, João Monteiro

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

By most accounts, Cabo Verde is making tremendous achievements economically, politically, and socially. Forty years after becoming independent, it finds itself consistently among the highest performers on human development scales anywhere in Africa. This paper is a reflection on Cabo Verde’s development and economic growth as it relates to questions of income and resource distribution. Specifically, it considers the challenge of inequality in the distribution of income and the possibility that present inequality trends may be related to economic policy-making over that last twenty-five years. It draws on government reports and United Nations and World Bank documents to capture the …

Letter From The Editor, Joao J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Histoire De L’Immigration Capverdienne En Côte D’Ivoire, Jean-Baptiste Tavares

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Immigrants From Cabo Verde In Italy: History And Paths Of Socio-Educative Integration, Clara Silva

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Cape Verdean migration to Italy started in the early sixties of the nineteenth century as an exclusively female one, mostly caused by the demand for domestic workers by bourgeois families. In the late eighties, the Cape Verdean community migrated to Italy was still composed of more than 90% of women. In 1990, the introduction of a legislation setting forth the right to family reunification allowed many women to reunite with their husbands and children remained in their homeland. In Italy, the gradual social inclusion process and the creation of a network of Cape Verdean migrants’ association, allowed to overcome all …

Ending Slavery In Cabo Verde: Between Manumission And Emancipation, 1856-1876, Lumumba H. Shabaka

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

This article explores the ending of slavery in Cabo Verde by using the Committee of Protection of Slaves and Freed-person. Rather than just following the directives from Lisbon, it shows that local leaders were reluctant to establish the institution and cautiously approached the abolition of slavery in the colony. Nevertheless, enslaved Africans and their descendants fully exploited the new laws to gain nominal freedom. Like other parts of the Atlantic world, being freed was a state between manumission and emancipation, because there were struggles over payments, ‘rights’ for the manumitted individuals and mandatory seven years services were required by law.

“This Country Does Not Have My Back!”: Youth Experiences With A Parent Threatened By Deportation, Leila Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Using exploratory case study methodology and a critical theoretical perspective, this study examined the impact of parental deportation on three Cape Verdean youths, in one of the largest Cape Verdean immigrant communities in Southeast New England. A particularly focus is given to their schooling experiences following parental deportation as well as their understanding of the event of parental deportation. Participants expressed feeling isolated and disconnected in school and from extended family following their parents’ involvement with Immigration services. They questioned or denied their American identity despite being citizens by birth. They described fears and feelings of uncertainty about their future. …

Cape Verde And Its Diaspora: Economic Transnationalism And Homeland Development, João Resende-Santos

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

This study examines the historical role of the diaspora in Cape Verde’s socioeconomic development. It analyzes the prospects and limitations of its diaspora as a transnational economic development resource. While it is policy oriented, the study offers a conceptual framework to analyze its diaspora engagement policies and efforts since 1975. Cape Verde has emerged as a success story. The diaspora’s contribution was one of the four essential factors behind this relative success: migration and remittances, overseas development assistance, large scale public investments, and reasonably sound policies and stewardship of public finances. Today Cape Verde confronts an adverse set of conditions …

Journal Of Cape Verdean Studies, Vol. 2

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Letter From The Editor, João J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Reading The World: Historicizing Systemic Contradictions In Lntertextual Dialogues, João J. Rosa

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

No abstract provided.

Cabo Verde: Do Babel Inicial À Emergência De Uma Ordem Linguística, Manuel Veiga

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

O contacto de línguas, em Cabo Verde, evoluiu de um babel inicial, para a emergência de um crioulo, estruturalmente uno, mas com actualizações regionais e matizes fonéticas, morfológicas, lexicais e sintácticas que enriquecem a nossa língua materna, sem comprometer a sua "superior unidade".

As diferenças são devedoras de factores como: as línguas matrizes originárias; o peso demográfico dessas línguas; o aparecimento cedo de mestiços e do crioulo como respectiva língua materna; a tolerância linguística imposta pelas circunstâncias (número reduzido de dominadores brancos; a iliteracia prevalecente; a Carta Régia de 1472 que impunha o comercio escravocrata com "novidades da terra"; a …

Elitizados, Dinâmicas De Transformação Da Moderna Elite Política Administrativa Cabo-Verdiana, Crisanto Barros

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Diversos estudos sobre dinâmicas de configuração das elites políticas na África subsariana (Daloz, 1999; Daloz e Chabal, 1999; Augé, 2005) e no leste europeu (Bauquet, 2006) tendem a enfatizar processos de reprodução da velha elite política que se recicla e se renova no interior de sistemas políticos formalmente competitivos graças à sua capacidade de reconversão o seu capital político em capital económico e vice-versa. Outras vezes, procura-se evidenciar processos de formação de elites em que o Partido e o Estado desempenham um papel preponderante na emergência de novas elites com alguma dimensão de artificialidade (Farmer, 1999).

Este ensaio pretende lançar …

“Free Men Name Themselves”: U.S. Cape Verdeans & Black Identity Politics In The Era Of Revolutions, 1955-75, Aminah Pilgrim

Journal of Cape Verdean Studies

Contrary to widely held assumptions about Cape Verdean immigrants in the US – based on oral folklore and early historiography - the population was never "confused" about their collective identity. Individuals and groups of Cape Verdeans wrestled with US racial ideology just as they struggled to make new lives for themselves and their families abroad. The men and women confronted African-American or "black" identity politics from the moment of their arrivals upon these shores, and chose very deliberate strategies for building community, re-inventing their lives and creating pathways for survival and resistance. One exceptional tool for providing others with a …