A Study of Cape Verdeanness In Postcolonial Cape Verdean Poetry

Cape Verdeanness is another name for Cape Verdean cultural identity. Postcolonial Cape Verdeanness refers to Cape Verdeanness as it has expressed itself since July 5, 1975, the first day of Cape Verdean independence. Postcolonial Cape Verdeanness has previously been described at length in the social sciences scholarship. Postcolonial Cape Verdeanness has previously been implicitly rather than explicitly represented in descriptions of postcolonial Cape Verdean poetry in the scholarly literature. This study is a first of its kind consideration of postcolonial Cape Verdeanness. It is also the first time Cape Verdeanness of any kind has been explicitly represented by means of a review of Cape Verdean cultural productions. The methods of this study include a review of the findings of the social sciences regarding postcolonial Cape Verdeanness, a review of the scholarly literature on postcolonial Cape Verdean poetry, and an analysis of a group of postcolonial Cape Verdean poems, including contributions from both the Cape Verdean Islands and the Cape Verdean diaspora. The findings of this study are that postcolonial Cape Verdean poetry provides a significant lens into postcolonial Cape Verdeanness that both overlaps and complements the lens on Cape Verdeanness provided by the social sciences. Furthermore, postcolonial Cape Verdeanness demonstrates a rupture from colonial-era Cape Verdeanness. Because of this rupture, Cape Verdeanness has now expanded to reflect universal concerns in addition to specifically Cape Verdean ones.