Paper short abstract:

This paper proposes the discussion about how the question of race affects the political positions of urban young people from Angolan cities, exploring the links between Angolan students in and outside the country and between local and external views on concepts like race and ethnicity.

Paper long abstract:

Race is always a sensitive topic to debate. Among the different definitions of what is race - or even if it effectivelly exists - there is a large range of positions. Despite of this, the race, understood as a social construction on the basis of unequal social relations, has been an important topic on recent social and political debate on African countries as Angola.

Hall (2013) says that the condition of people of african descent outside Africa is determinant on how they relate to this question, including on their political positioning.

In the other hand, African countries like Angola has treated the question of race as a secondary problem, given the priority of national unity construction (Malaquias, 1999). Assuming that race (and racism) was an colonial instrument to dominate local people, with the end of the colonial rule, this question would be automatically surpassed.

On present days, young Angolans from urban spaces are increasingly involved in the political debate, demanding more space for political participation and democracy. One of the instruments used to this purpose is the hip-hop language, which is marked by its concern with the debate of racial relations on diasporic spaces as Brazil, the United States and even Portugal.

If it is possible to say that the dialogue with diasporic spaces is a source to define their positions on democracy we wonder if the same can be can be verified regarding race and its effects on political positioning.