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In the Atlantic Ocean island state of Cabo Verde, silence about hunger is perennial. Elderly people who lived through devastating famines during Portuguese colonialism seldom talk about their memories, and contemporary experiences of food deprivation are buried in silence. Yet there is one space in which the silence is broken: music. Exploring that space, this article analyses representations of drought and hunger in Cabo Verdean music and explores the social contexts, positionalities and sentiments that the lyrics evoke. The article portrays the everyday listening to and singing of the lyrics as a kind of 'organic remembering' and demonstrates how it contributes to a view of hunger as a key symbol of the nation at the same time as the experience of hunger is surrounded by silence in everyday life. Furthermore, the article brings up the silencing of the Portuguese' colonial responsibility for the sufferings. It also presents some reasons for this, including Cabo Verde's hybrid position in the Portuguese empire as an uneasy mixture between a distant and neglected appendage to the metropole and a colony. Finally, it argues that not blaming the ex-colonisers has been an important way forward for the small and dependent postcolonial state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article juxtaposes theoretical notions concerning the relationship between migrant remittances and socio-economic inequality with an anthropological case study of remittances in Cape Verde. Contemporary theorizing involves, firstly, the idea that remittances do not benefit the poorest; secondly, the conclusion that the impact of remittances changes over time; thirdly, the notion that family structure influences the distribution of remittances; and fourthly the proposition that remittances have a stronger impact on social stratification when linked to the return of a migrant. The primary aim of the article is to use these theoretical notions as entry-points for analysing how remittances interplay with patterns of inequality in Cape Verde. A second aim is to examine the explanatory power of the theories through applying them to this specific case. The article demonstrates that remittances in some cases benefit the poorest in Cape Verde and that this has to do with the long history of migration, which means that nearly everyone, irrespective of class, has a close relative abroad. It also shows that Cape Verdeans generally receive quite small amounts of money, which implies that they are seldom able to improve their economic situation in a more substantial way. In conclusion, the article contends that in order to fully appreciate the complex relationship between remittances and socio-economic inequality it is necessary to take into account the importance of other sources of income. Moreover, it argues that the contemporary restrictive immigration regimes in receiving countries have a fundamental impact on the socio-economic distribution of remittances. In studies of the relationship between remittances and inequality, this is an aspect that has been left out. Instead, theorizing tends to focus on factors that are internal to the countries of origin, and on the migrants' links to these countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we discuss how transnational motherhood is managed and experienced in contexts of uncertainty and conflicting pressures. We propose a conceptual approach and apply it to a specific case: female migration from Cape Verde to Europe and North America. The analysis is based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the authors in Cape Verde and the diaspora over the past decade. We first address the ideal of and expectations towards transnational mothering in Cape Verde, relating these to local forms of kinship, fostering and household organisation. We demonstrate that lengthy separations between mothers and young children are socially constructed as a normal aspect of transnational lives: they are a painful necessity, but are not automatically assumed to be traumatic. In an ideal situation, the biological mother and the foster mother play complementary roles in what we describe as the transnational fostering triangle. Subsequently, we ask how transnational mothering is confronted by unforeseen incidents and obstacles, which we refer to as contingencies. We relate these contingencies to the negotiation of individual and collective ideas and aspirations. The Cape Verdean case is interesting in a comparative perspective because of the social acceptance of mother–child separation. Our analysis explores how this acceptance co-exists with the real-life challenges of transnational mothering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines migrant remittances through the lens of anthropological theories of gift relationships. I explore remittance transactions as perceived and practised by people in Cape Verde, a country in which many households receive money from abroad. The article highlights three key dimensions. The first dimension is the transactors' (senders and receivers of remittances) relations and obligations to each other, the second is the degree to which remittances are seen as voluntary gifts or, alternatively, as elements in an obligatory reciprocal exchange, and the third is the relation between the transactors and money as an object of exchange. I argue that these dimensions together open up for a holistic understanding of the dynamic interplay between remittances and relationships. In contrast to mainstream remittance studies, with their conventional focus on economic rationality, this is an approach that illuminates what remittances mean, as social practice, to those involved. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Cape Verde, an island nation off West Africa, is a country moulded by migration from the time of settlement until today. This article traces the shifting migration flows to, through and from the archipelago. These trends are related to developments in transportation technology and changes in the world economy, which have created fluctuations in the attractiveness of Cape Verde’s location. The article then proceeds to explore the Cape Verdean “migration ideology”, which has historical roots but became consolidated through large-scale labour emigration in the 1960s and 1970s. By “migration ideology” we refer to the set of ideas that associate migration with specific meanings and causalities. The final section of the article addresses some of the contradictions and pressures that have become central to Cape Verdean migration over the past decade or two: restrictive immigration policies in destination countries increasingly prevent the departure of prospective migrants, a diverse flow of return migrants challenges established notions of migrant success, and the islands are attracting larger numbers of transit migrants and immigrants from China and the African mainland. The analysis raises the question of how the Cape Verdean national identity will evolve with the complexity of the migratory landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a risk that remittances exacerbate socio-economic inequality among the recipients. In this case study of a Cape Verdean community I explore how variations in family organization interact with the distribution of remittances and their effects on local social stratification. Formerly, the typical migrant was male and directed the main part of his remittances to a nuclear household he had left behind. Households that included a male migrant were able to raise their standard of living over that of households without a migrant member. Today, relationships between women and men have become increasingly unstable and long-lasting transnational family ties are now rarely based on a conjugal relationship. Both women and men migrate and they often start up a new family abroad. Consequently, when migrants send remittances to Cape Verde they do not invest in their own future lives as they did in the past. Instead, they try to support ageing parents and young children left behind. This means that migrants often have economic obligations to several households and that they are therefore only able to send limited amounts of money to each. This implies, first, that many households are recipients of remittances and, second, that they normally only receive small sums. In conclusion, it may be said that these changes in family organization have reduced the risk that remittances will exacerbate inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]