Cape Verdean diasporic identity formation

Abstract

Gina Sa ´nchez GibauDiasporic communities traverse the two or more states to which they belong, which they influence, and which reproduce them.This bipolar identity is the cornerstone of the diasporic experience.(Laguerre 1998: 9) The importance of the concept of 'diaspora' as an explanatory paradigm stems from its malleable qualities given that it can apply to diverse communities.Dissociated from the historical experiences of a defined group of people, it becomes a universal nomenclature applicable to displaced groups of people.(Barkan and Shelton 1998: 5) The concept of the African diaspora has its intellectual roots in traditional Pan-Africanist activities conducted in the U.S., the U.K. and in the Caribbean during the 19 th century.Since that time, theories of the African diaspora include both support and criticism of the idea of Africa as the primary site of identity formation (Appiah 1992;Drake 1982;Gilroy 1993;Gordon 1998;Padmore 1956).The evolution of the literature ranges from past conceptualisations of the African diaspora as a conglomerate with traceable ties to Africa, to more recent attempts at de-essentializing this connection in order to analyze and emphasise the African diaspora as a dynamic process.The Cape Verdean diaspora population in Boston exemplifies both of these theoretical and political trends.This chapter examines the concepts of diaspora, race, ethnicity and culture as intellectual frameworks through which to understand Cape Verdean diasporic identity formation.These concepts serve as analytical tools that reveal how Cape Verdeans define the parameters of their 'racial' and 'ethnic' identities while simultaneously constructing multiple ideas of what constitutes 'Cape Verdeanness.'This process of diasporic identity formation is complicated by the fact that Boston's Cape Verdean diaspora community is decidedly fragmented at this moment in time.The community is divided, in generational terms, into Cape Verdean and Cape Verdean-American segments that have a limited amount of contact with each other.Situating Cape Verdeans within the

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