Cape Verdeanness as a complex social construct: analysis of ethnicity through complexity theory

Abstract

Emigration was an economic strategy for Cape Verdeans from as early as the eighteenth century. It has become an important element of Cape Verdean social identity or, as this identity also has been called, Cape Verdeanness. In a situation where there are more Cape Verdean emigrants and their descendants outside Cape Verde than living within the archipelago itself, traditional theories of migration and/or national identity placing more importance on origin than on all other features in the process of identity construction seem misplaced.