A study of Cape Verdean-American ethnic development: The emergence of bilateral diaspora ethnicity and its impact in a southeastern New England locality

This study discusses the recent emergence of a bilateral diaspora ethnicity (BDE) among Cape Verdean-Americans, and then examines its implications on the local level. The Cape Verdean-American population had previously developed communal patterns that combined powerful and long-term connections with its original overseas homeland, Cape Verde, with strategies to express its interests in the current actual homeland. In the newer BDE stage, the population has expanded its ethnic activity to lobbying for Cape Verde itself. The roots of BDE are traced to the active maintenance of its transatlantic "imagined community", historical patterns of remittances and voluntary associations; and changing attitudes by a newly-independent Cape Verde toward its diaspora. The study examines current Cape Verdean-American ethnic experience in a southeastern Massachusetts locality to determine if similar ethnic impact exists at the local level.;Case examples suggest that locality-level ethnic operation is different from that seen at the overseas level. Ethnicity was not used as explicitly in the public arena. However, the examples also revealed a strong ethnic latency at work locally. Electoral activity from 1950-1980's showed persistent participation and support crossing ethnic boundaries. Public participation was uniformly low--not unlike the general population--yet Cape Verdean-American involvement influenced a key Town Meeting issue in 1980. The population's visibility stimulated support for voluntary association activity and its proportionate benefit (although not perceived as such) from the infusion of new resources. The potential for greater ethnic impact was clear.;Worldwide demographic and technological transformations challenge favorite concepts such as assimilation, diversity, and racial and ethnic categorization. Since the Cape Verdean-American experience combines the powerful variables of immigration and color, it provides a rich venue for these issues. The study suggests that we may need to rethink our definitions of "being ethnic" in public and private arenas.;Methods included individual and group interviews; demographic analysis based on the 1980 Census, a local survey, and an original Household Survey; extensive participant-observation; and two visits to Cape Verde (1981 and 1987). The researcher's role as "quasi-insider" was considered in the study.