Grounded in extensive and original ethnographic fieldwork, this book makes a novel contribution to migration studies by examining a European labour migration to the Global South, namely contemporary Portuguese migration to Angola in a postcolonial context. In doing so, it explores everyday encounters at work between the Portuguese migrants and their Angolan hosts, and it analyses how the Luso-African postcolonial heritage interplays with the recent Portuguese-Angolan migration in the (re-)construction of power relations and identities. Based on ethnographic interviews, the book describes the Angolan-Portuguese relationship as characterized not only by hierarchies of power, but also by ambivalence and hybridity. This research demonstrates that the identities of the ex-colonized Angolan and the Portuguese ex-colonizer are shaped by a history of unequal and violent power relations. Further, it reveals how this history has produced a sense of intimacy between the two, and the often fraught nature of this relationship. Combining a strong connection to the field of migration studies with a postcolonial perspective, this original work will appeal to students and scholars of migration, postcolonial studies, the sociology of work and African Studies.

Represents a significant contribution to current migration debates Carves a new path in the debate on North-South migration Sheds light on postcolonial power relations in Angola

Autorentext
Lisa Åkesson is Associate Professor in Anthropology at the School of Global Studies, the University of Gothenburg, and Senior Researcher at the Nordic Africa Institute, Sweden.

Inhalt
Chapter 1: Introduction: Setting the scene.- Chapter 2: Postcolonial encounters in a lusotropical world.- Chapter 3: Mobile subjects.- Chapter 4: Changing relations of power and the party-state.- Chapter 5: The power in and of labour relations.- Chapter 6: Identities at work.- Chapter 7: Conclusions: Continuity, rupture and hybridity.