Paper short abstract:

The artistic work of the Rabelados at Santiago (Cape Verde) has provoked recently many discussions about their initiatives of patrimonialization. This paper wants to explore the debates concerning the legitimacy of this “artistic tradition” facing the “true” Cape Verdean identity, the crioulidade

Paper long abstract:

After nearly sixty years of cultural resistance to the Portuguese colonial project and its Postcolonial offshoot at the Republic of Cape Verde from 1974 onwards, the communities of Rabelados at the island of Santiago seem to have conclude their nativist and isolationist project. With de death of the last of their prophets in 2005, the Rabelados are seeking various strategies for promoting their integration into the national economy and in the whole Cape Verdean society. If some Rabelados have chosen the migration and others have accepted any job in the "mainstream" market, a group of young Rabelados from the village of Espinho Branco has developed an intense artistic activity. This artistic production, the actual "art of the Rabelados", has received some national and international recognition. In this context, the production of a "folk art" or "ethnic art" has forced themselves to questioning the foundations of their own cultural tradition and offer an image of it that be in line with the expectations of the tourists visiting the village. At the same time, the growing visibility of the "arte dos Rabelados" has caused a realignment of most Cape Verdean cultural sectors facing these productions. This realignment has also provoked controversies about the foundations of Cape Verdean identity, the crioulidade, embodied ideally by the communities of Rabelados for someone, notably differen of the Rabelados' tune por the others