A challenging portrait of the Cape Verdeans in Portugal; it is the only ethnographic study of its kind. Lu's Batalha focuses simultaneously on former colonial subjects-cum-labor migrants and the elite, former colonialist, strata of society. The result of this comparative study lays bare the socio-cultural dynamics of race, gender, and post colonialism in the Cape Verde community.

"The island nation of Cape Verde has given rise to a diaspora that spans the four continents of the Atlantic Ocean. Migration has been essential to the island since the birth of its nation. This volume makes a significant contribution to the study of international migration and transnationalism by exploring the Cape Verdean diaspora through its geographic diversity and with a broad thematic range"--Publisher's description.

Noted historian of the Lusophone world Malyn Newitt offers an expansive account of how exploration, imperialism and migration shaped the Portuguese and their global diaspora.

The imperial diaspora -- The Lusophone African diaspora -- Oriental imaginings and travel at the turn of the twentieth century -- Into the wilderness : the race for Africa and the promise of Brazil -- The Casa dos Estudantes do Império and mensagem -- A Lusotropicalist tourist and soldiers, East Indians, and Cape Verdeans on the move -- War in Africa and the global economy : leaving home and returning -- Epilogue : the Portuguese-speaking diaspora and "Lusofonia

The island nation of Cape Verde has given rise to a diaspora that spans the four continents of the Atlantic Ocean. Migration has been essential to the island since the birth of its nation. This volume makes a significant contribution to the study of international migration and transnationalism by exploring the Cape Verdean diaspora through its geographic diversity and with a broad thematic range.

Arriving in New England first as crew members of whaling vessels, Afro-Portuguese immigrants from Cape Verde later came as permanent settlers and took work in the cranberry industry, on the docks, and as domestic workers. Marilyn Halter combines oral history with analyses of ships' records to chart the history and adaptation patterns of the Cape Verdean Americans. Though identifying themselves in ethnic terms, Cape Verdeans found that their African-European ancestry led their new society to view them as a racial group. Halter emphasizes racial and ethnic identity formation to show how Cape Verdeans set themselves apart from the African Americans while attempting to shrug off white society's exclusionary tactics. She also contrasts rural life on the bogs of Cape Cod with New Bedford’s urban community to reveal the ways immigrants established their own social and religious groups as they strove to maintain their Crioulo customs.