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Paper short abstract

Based on my fieldwork experience in Cape Verde, I will analyse the transition from silencing discussions about race based on the concept of 'creoleness', to openly discussing and understanding the historical and social dynamics of the country using the 'R-word'.

Paper long abstract

In times of antiblack feelings, how can talking about race help us to understand the past and build the present? To answer this question, I will build up my analysis on ethnographic data produced throughout the last decade conducting fieldwork in Cape Verde, with research focused on nation-building discourses and migrations.

Impacted by intra-West African immigration, the dissemination of pro-black discourse by the Brazilian media in the archipelago, and intense communication with its diaspora, the country's history is being retold. Rather than being told from the perspective of Creole/mestizo exceptionalism, which would erase racial inequalities in discourse, it is now being told from the perspective of the persistence of racial hierarchies in its structure.

This movement has led to significant changes in the way the nation is understood, specially by the lens of anthropologists such as Cláudio Furtado, Eufémia Rocha and José Carlos Gomes dos Anjos. These scholars challenge the national ideology of a post-racial nation in their work by addressing where racial logic persists. Starting from this context of intense transformation, my goal is to demonstrate how discussing the 'R-word' (race) can help us to overcome the racism that structures post-colonial societies.

Starting from everyday situations of racial violence in the context of epidermal similarities, I explore the significance of identifying race as a fundamental aspect of Cape Verdean society, providing meaning to lived experiences and facilitating change. While silence perpetuates inequality, speaking out creates space for subverting the established order.