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Cape Verde: Transnational Archipelago
AfricaFocus Bulletin
Aug 18, 2009 (090818)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
As regular readers of AfricaFocus Bulletin know, this publication
relies on selected "reposted" material. When U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton chose Cape Verde as her last stop on her
7-country African tour, I was hoping to find some analysis on-line
of the unique history and position of Cape Verde that I could share
with readers. Surely someone would be commenting on-line on the
long history of Cape Verdean immigration to the United States, or
on the significance of Cape Verdean liberation leader Amilcar
Cabral for Pan-African thought on both sides of the Atlantic. But
apart from brief pro-forma tributes to the country's multi-party
democracy and economic stability, I could find almost nothing in
recent on-line reports to pass on to AfricaFocus readers. So I had to dig
a bit deeper.
The headling in Cape Verde's bilingual A Semana on August 13,
(http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article44442 or
http://www.asemana.publ.cv/spip.php?article44423), read "Clinton's
visit to Cape Verde ignored by American media." And if coverage
was sparse, historical perspective was even more strikingly absent.
Search for mentions of "Hillary Clinton" and "Amilcar Cabral" on the web, for example.
Apart from a few mentions of
her landing at the Amilcar Cabral International Airport, the only
reference one is likely to find is a Fox News attack on Obama
administration green jobs czar Van Jones, because of his
affiliation with an organization which once praised Amilcar Cabral
in its newsletter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin, as well as the mainstream media, has been
guilty of neglect of Cape Verde. And although one might attempt to
excuse this with the adage "no news is good news," I thought it
important to try to remedy this deficiency, even if inadequately.
[For the other countries on Secretary of State Clinton's trip,
AfricaFocus Bulletin and its predecessor Africa Policy E-Journal
have provided, from the year 2000 to date, 22 issues on Kenya, 26
on South Africa, 21 on Angola, 27 on the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, 37 on Nigeria, and 13 on Liberia. See
http://www.africafocus.org/country/countries.php for links.]
So you have this issue, with a potpourri of current content on the
critical issue of remittances, references to books with current and
historical background, links to a selection of the many Cape
Verdean website portals, a few links to the extraordinary diversity
of the music of Cape Verde and the Cape Verdean diaspora, and links
to two new documents on the No Easy Victories website, featuring
two Cape Verdean Americans who were honored in 2005 with Cape
Verde's Ordem Amilcar Cabral. Thanks to Richard Lobban, long-time
AfricaFocus subscriber and author of two standard reference works
on Cape Verde, for suggestions of sources and issues to explore,
only a fraction of which I was able to follow up,
This Bulletin and the additional links at http://www.africafocus.org/country/capeverde.php, however, should at least give the interested reader a wide range of additional
sources to pursue.
The title of this Bulletin comes from the recent book edited by
Lu¡s Batalha and Jørrgen Carling, Transnational Archipelago,
published in 2008. A significant portion of the book can be read
on-line in http://books.google.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Note: AfricaFocus Bulletin will be taking a break from now until
mid-September. Automatically updated news and other features will
continue to be available at http://www.africafocus.org
++++++++++++++++++++++end editor's note+++++++++++++++++++++++
Remittances
[Editor's note: The current population of Cape Verde is estimated
at 429,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau international
database - http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/informationGateway.php
- estimates of the Cape Verdean diaspora, in the United States,
Portugal, Netherlands, and other countries in Europe, the Americas,
and Africa, vary widely, but the number is generally agreed to be
given as approximately 500,000 larger than the total of those
resident on the 10 islands of the archipelago. Remittances, as well
as official development assistance, account for a significant
proportion of national income and of the income of most Cape
Verdean families, although statistical estimates differ widely.
Cape Verdean emigrants and the Cape Verdean government have taken
the lead in facilitating these transfers and limiting the cost of
wire-transfer services, as noted in the article excerpted below
about Citizens Bank in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Although such
steps by no means resolve the issues of inequality within the
extended Cape Verdean community, they may be of interest for other
countries facing similar issues.
For a broader discussion of remittances, see
http://www.africafocus.org/docs07/rem0711.php]
Banking Unbanked Immigrants through Remittances
by George Samuels
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
George Samuels is a community affairs supervisor at the Federal
Reserve Bank of Boston.
[Excerpts: Full article in Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
Communities and Banking, Fall, 2003
http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/c&b/2003/fall/unbanked.pdf]
Tanya Fernandes used to go to her local Western Union to take care
of many of her financial services needs. She went there to cash
checks, buy money orders, and send money home to her family in
Cape Verde, Africa. She did not know that she had an option to pay
less for these services until a family member told her about a
Cape Verdean remittance program available at the Citizens Bank
branch in the Upham's Corner section of Dorchester,
Massachusetts. Investigating the program, Ms. Fernandes discovered
a slew of other tools to conduct her financial affairs.
"This is great. I can send any amount of money to my family, and
it costs only $10,"says Fernandes. "I'm so glad my uncle told me
about this program. I have opened two accounts at the bank, and
I am now saving money."
Ms. Fernandes is not alone. The establishment of remittance
programs by mainstream financial institutions (MFIs) is becoming
an important way of banking the unbanked immigrant population in
the United States. ...
While a bank can remit money to practically any other bank in the
world through wire transfer, few promote this service as a
selling point to attract new customers. On the other hand,
commercial service providers, like Western Union, widely
advertise their remittance services. These alternative providers
typically charge high fees and generally do not offer
asset-building tools, such as interest-bearing deposit accounts.
Many immigrants are unfamiliar with the U.S. banking system and
rely solely on these alternative providers for their financial
needs. As a result, they often pay more for services and miss the
opportunity to build a solid financial foundation.
Now, MFIs are starting to offer tailored remittance programs to
target these immigrant populations, and they are doing so for
good reason. First, these unbanked persons represent an untapped
customer base for many MFIs. Second, the volume of remittances
from the United States to other countries is sizable - close to
$35 billion in 2002 - and it is expected to increase considerably
in the coming years. Dilip Ratha, a researcher at the World Bank,
notes, "With such large sums of money being remitted, and
projections showing that the level will increase, policy leaders
and banks are becoming very interested."
Many MFIs, recognizing a business opportunity in this burgeoning
market, are strategically offering competitive prices to
remitters. Attracted by these low-priced services, many immigrant
populations are entering the mainstream financial world and are
being exposed to an array of financial services and products.
Remittance Programs Differ
While it is not clear how many MFIs are offering targeted
remittance services, several established programs exist,
including ones at Citizens Bank, Wells Fargo, and a network of
credit unions. Most, but not all, programs require customers to
open a bank account in order to remit funds. Some also require the
recipient to open a bank account at the partnering foreign
financial institution. Many remittance programs target one
immigrant group, as they are typically a partnership between a
financial institution here and one in the remitter's home
country.
...
"Having a solid partnership with a corresponding institution and
knowing your community are key to keeping costs in line,"says
Raymond De Silva, senior vice president and regional manager at
Citizens Bank and one of the leaders in developing his bank's
remittance program. "Normally, it would cost about $30 to send
money without a formal partnership. But with banks working
together, we were able to lower the cost for our customers to
$10. As more players get involved, costs may go down even
further."
The Citizens Bank remittance program that Ms. Fernandes uses is a
partnership with two banks in Cape Verde : Banco Commercial
Atlantico and Caixa Economica. The program allows customers to
remit funds to Cape Verde from anywhere Citizens has a branch
location. Citizens' central wire department executes the transfers
to the Cape Verdean banks; remitted funds are available to
recipients in Cape Verde within 24 hours.
The program is popular among the region's Cape Verdean population
because it costs only $10 to transfer any amount of money–a
substantial saving over alternatives. For example, sending $2,000
to Cape Verde from the Western Union office in Dorchester costs
$114, or 1040 percent more than the Citizens' program. Additional
charges can occur at the point of exchange. According to the
company's currency exchange policy, "Any difference between the
rate given to consumers and the rate received by Western Union
will be kept by Western Union."When all costs are taken into
account, the savings from using the Citizens program have enticed
many Cape Verdean remitters to become bank customers.
Citizens decided to implement this targeted remittance service
after several customers went to the Upham's Corner branch manager
and asked him to consider doing it. With 53 percent of the
branch's customers and over 20 percent of the neighborhood being
of Cape Verdean descent, the bank saw it as an opportunity to
increase business. As Victor Monteiro, a native Cape Verdean and
manager of the branch, explains, "It made perfect business sense.
Our customers wanted it, and we knew this was a bigger opportunity
because of the large Cape Verdean presence in Dorchester."
...
A Vision to Provide Banking Services to a Community
In 1982, when Victor Monteiro first went with his mother to the
bank in the Upham's Corner section of Dorchester, Massachusetts,
they did not have a pleasant experience. As Monteiro recalls, "We
had to wait almost two hours to get service because no one spoke
our language."Both natives of Cape Verde, Africa, Victor and his
mother speak Portuguese and Crioulo, a blend of Portuguese and
West African words. Eventually, the bank found someone at its
Codman Square branch who could translate, but by the time he got to
Upham's Corner to help, Monteiro had already made up his mind. That
day, as he and his mother were leaving the bank, he told her,"One
day, I will be the manager of this branch, and we won't ever have
to wait for service again."
Eighteen years later, Monteiro's dream came true. He is now the
branch manager at the Upham's Corner Citizens Bank branch, and he
is keeping that promise to his mother. Ninety percent of his staff
speak the language of his customers, and he is working hard to meet
the banking needs of his community."Coming from the neighborhood,
I already had a good sense of what some of the needs of the
community were,"says Monteiro."Nothing is more pleasing to me than
to see people come into the bank and express their happiness about
the services they receive."
Upham's Corner is a vibrant commercial district where many in the
Dorchester community go to shop and use other services. According
to 2000 Census data, this neighborhood alone is home to about
2,900 Cape Verdeans, while the greater Dorchester area accounts for
almost 9 percent of all Cape Verdeans that live in the United
States.[In 2000, according to Census Bureau and Boston
Redevelopment Corporation estimates, there with 77,000 Americans
with Cape Verdean ancestry, 65,000 of them in New England.]
Starting a remittance program at the bank has been a key element in
providing services to this population. Before the program was
introduced in 2000, many of Citizens' Cape Verdean customers relied
on wire transfer service providers to send money to Cape Verde.
Eventually, recalls Monteiro,"A few customers asked why we couldn't
provide the service. I thought to myself,why not?"
Monteiro brought the idea to his colleagues, and they were
receptive. They formed a group that worked with Citizens'
international office to develop a relationship with a couple of
financial institutions in Cape Verde. The end result was a
remittance program that costs his customers only $10 per
transaction to send any amount of money to Cape Verde. Today,
through word of mouth, many Cape Verdeans in the area have found
out about the remittance program.
"I hear so many stories about how people back home need the money
and how it costs so much to send it,"says Monteiro."Now, I tell
them to come on by and check out our service. People are always
pleased that they don't have to pay an arm and a leg to send money
to family members in need."
,,,
Web Sites
Cabo Verde Online
http://www.sapo.cv
Cape Verdean community news and multimedia
http://forcv.com
Cape Verdean culture, literature, music, and history
http://tabanka.no
A Semana (weekly newspaper, Portuguese and English)
http://www.asemana.publ.cv/
Virtual Cape Verde
http://virtualcapeverde.net
Books, Music, & More
(1) Books
For links to display of a selection of books, music, & one film
available for purchase on DVD, visit http://www.africafocus.org/books/west.php
With the exception of travel books, frequently updated since Cape
Verde is an attractive destination both for the Cape Verdean
diaspora and others, quite a few of the books on Cape Verde seem to
be either out-of-print or quite expensive. Still, used copies do
appear for sale on line, and some, such as two collections of
Amilcar Cabral's writing, have been brought back in print by
Monthly Review Press.
The latest edition of the Bradt travel guide was published this
year (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?1841622761).
Richard Lobban has recently updated the Historical Dictionary of
the Republic of Cape Verde, now available in the 4th edition (2007;
http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?0810849062). His summary
Cape Verde (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?0813335620)
was published in 1998
On current issues, see Luís Batalha and Jørgen Carling, eds.,
Transnational Archipelago (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?9053569944)
As noted above, much of this can be read through http://books.google.com
For those who can read Portuguese, a collection of essays by
Amilcar Cabral is available at http://www.amilcarcabral.org In
English Unity and Struggle (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?0853456259) and
Return to the Source (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?0853453454)
are both available from Monthly Review Press. Patrick Chabal's
study Amilcar Cabral: Revolutionary Leadership and People's War
(http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?1592210821) has been
brought back in print by Africa World Press.
(2) Music
The music of Cape Verde is best known through the superstar Cesaria
Évoria. Her reputation on the world music scene is well deserved,
but there is much more. For an overview see the review by Afropop's
Marlon Bishop at http://www.afropop.org/multi/feature/ID/881 and
the links at http://tabanka.no/music.html and
http://www.afropop.org/explore/artists/ID/7/where/country
For a selection of musicians see
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B00001NFFF
Among those Cape Verdean artists available for purchase of CDs, MP3
downloads, and listening to samples:
Cesaria Évoria, Café Atlántico
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B001544CUO
Mayra Andrade, Storia, Storia
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B0025UAFBC
Bana, Gira Sol
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B000OLHGBG
Suzanna Lubrano, Festa Mascarado
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B002FUII4S
Lura, M'Bem di Fora
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B000N60H3Q
Gil Semedo, Cabopop
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B001ANZRMM
Tcheka, Lonji
http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B0016GLZUQ
(3) & More
"Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican?": A Cape Verdean American Story
is the first of a three part documentary series on the Cape Verdean
community in Fox Point, by Cape Verdean scholar and film maker
Claire Andrade-Watkins. Part II will begin in the late 1960s, early
1970s, and take us through the tumultuous years of the Black Power
movement, challenges to Cape Verdean identity, Cape Verdean war for
independence and the tensions it created in the Cape Verdean
American community. The last in the series will reflect on the
meaning of "home" without the physical location of Fox Point and
the connections to the larger CV global community. See
http://spiamedia.com for background, and for purchase of this and
two other short films. A DVD of "Some Kind of Funny Porto Rican?"
is also available at http://www.africafocus.org/books/asin.php?B00188D12C
No one has yet written the history of the support given to the
liberation struggle in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde by solidarity
groups in the Cape Verdean community in the United States. But it
is recognized within the community and by the Cape Verdean
government, which in 2005 awarded the Ordem Amilcar Cabral to Salah
Matteos and Ray Almeida during a visit by President Pedro Pires to
New Bedford, Massachusetts. For two documents reflecting a small
slice of that history, see http://www.noeasyvictories.org/research/matteos1973.php and
http://www.noeasyvictories.org/research/almeida1997.php.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to subscribe or unsubscribe to the bulletin,
or to suggest material for inclusion. For more information about
reposted material, please contact directly the original source
mentioned. For a full archive and other resources, see
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