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Paper short abstract

This ethnographic study examines localised narratives of drought and environmental vulnerability in Cape Verde. Drawing on the Oral Traditions Archive and fieldwork, it explores how communities historicise ecological crises and the potential roles of the archive in these discursive processes.

Paper long abstract

This ethnographic study investigates how Cape Verdeans narrate and historicise droughts and environmental vulnerability. Drawing on oral testimonies from the Oral Traditions Archive, compiled in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as fieldwork conducted between 2019 and 2022, it explores how these narratives convey local understandings of ecological crises and their connections to political authority across different historical periods.

By tracing oral testimonies across the archipelago, this study highlights the symbolic and practical linkages between environmental crises and culture, while also showing how ecological events intersect with Cape Verde’s political and economic history. Located off the coast of West Africa, this Atlantic group of volcanic islands is characterised by an arid climate and scarce resources. Rooted in orality, Cape Verdean culture reflects a history of colonial domination and unequal power relations, in which oral transmission and memory remained the primary means of preserving knowledge until independence from Portugal in 1975.

The Oral Traditions Archive is therefore an essential resource for understanding shifting perceptions of environmental issues in the archipelago. By placing archival material in dialogue with contemporary fieldwork, this study shows how communal modes of historicising illuminate collective understandings of ecological crises and their enduring relationship with political structures. This approach provides an interpretative framework for considering how such phenomena are understood and represented within culture. The analysis reveals both continuities and ruptures across colonial, post-independence, and contemporary contexts, showing how narratives simultaneously reflect and mediate responses to environmental and political challenges.