Are Cape Verdean women in Portugal predominantly street vendors?
KF: No. Cape Verdeans in Portugal are a heterogeneous community. Some emigrated prior to Cape Verde’s independence (1975) and have assumed Portuguese nationality and citizenship. They are integrated into Portuguese society and are represented across the nation’s professions. Others have just begun “free” travel, particularly those from the Cape Verde island of Santiago, and they are primarily absorbed into construction (for men) and “domestic” work (for women). The women with whom I work, exclusively from Santiago, have either chosen not to be “maids,” or have chosen to supplement their low “maid” incomes by selling fish. Undocumented street vending, however, is under heavy police surveillance in Portugal, so Cape Verdean fish vendors risk physical and verbal abuse on daily basis. My project addressed how life at “home” situated their resistance to the Portuguese state in Portugal. Curiously, Santiago was the primary slave holding island. And all Cape Verdean women who choose to sell f
