Migration or diaspora? Perceptions of the Cape Verdean dispersion in the world

Abstract

The word diaspora is becoming increasingly more used in the intellectual and institutional fields, as well as in the media to designate Cape Verdean migration. However, the traditional and common designations about the Cape Verdean abroad and of the transnational constitutions that emigration promotes in the archipelago are still upheld. In this work, we discuss the most common conceptions of Cape Verdean dispersion, the way these are connected with life stories (individual and collective) that are always affected by emigration and as well as with the practical knowledge the Cape Verdean society has of the migration world. Furthermore, we reflect on the reasons for the scarce dissemination of the word diaspora amongst the poorer segments of the population, taking into consideration that non-emigration on one hand and the social and class position changes derived from emigration on the other are considered the most outstanding social experiments of the archipelago. On the other side, the current adoption of the word diaspora as a synonym of migration seems to express the intellectual and official concerns regarding the political, social and cultural effects of the expressive Cape Verdean dispersion, with the probability of the scattered communities gradually escaping the nation’s political rise.