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Cape Verde
Day 26 - 29 July 2005
Cape Verde - the land of mixed people

"As one people, we have no idea who we are." that sums it up. the identity confusion of folks here, and that of myself. growin up in a place where I never really knew who I was (or am), without a platform or support system of mixed kids, I’ve always lived this life of never really knowing who to identify with, or what parts of my identity I "should" even recognize. it’s never really been a huge overarching problem, more like an undercover unnoticed one that, although not eating away at me constantly, lies in dormancy ready to pounce on me when certain situations arise. apparently, I’m not the only one in the country I’m in now. there was a panel in a session today that talked about impressions of us, and identity of their own. people talked about how CVeans aren’t African and aren’t European, how the Portuguese, while although deeply engrained into their identities is really only a colonial brainwashing, and how the "white" and "black" terms don’t only mean skin color, but also mean privileged and not so ($$). very interesting to me to see how the different upbringings (bein educated in Portugal or the states) can have a huge effect on perceptions of people both here and worldwide. thank you Captain Obvious, I know...but it just makes so much sense to actually hear and observe it when it comes out of someone else’s mouth and not my own train of thought. the session today was like a TWTP Cape Verde. it was great. so much history, so many problems, so much progress, and so little time...

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