“Os chineses são universais, estão a invadir toda parte”: rumores e tensões acerca da presença chinesa no comércio cabo-verdiano

Abstract

Rumours, hearsay and gossip are a constitutive part of societies and play a fundamental role in coercing, controlling and disciplining individuals in the search for social cohesion. They tend to emerge at times of social tension and civilisational conflict, in order to provide answers and solutions to the resulting events. In this sense, the aim of this article is to understand the role of rumours produced and shared by Cape Verdean shopkeepers about the presence of Chinese immigrants in the country. To do this, I analyse two ethnographic and commercial contexts that are deeply marked by the presence of Cape Verdean women and competition from the Chinese commercial diaspora: the transnational trade in industrialised products in Mindelo, on the island of São Vicente, and the production and sale of “genuine” Cape Verdean handicrafts in the souvenir market on the island of Santiago.