Revisiting the Migration, Gender and Development Nexus: Translocal Corridors and Care Chains Between Cape Verde and Galicia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22325/fes/res.2026.289Keywords:
development, Cape Verdean migration, circulation of care, remittances, transnational familiesAbstract
The article analyses the migration-gender-development nexus through the case of the Cape Verdean diaspora. It moves away from the economistic approach in studies on development and migration to embrace more novel perspectives that advocate a relational conception of development processes. Fieldwork results highlight the transnational circulation of assets — not only monetary, but also care, objects, and social remittances — among the Cape Verdean community. This circulation reveals how the transnational dynamics configure vectors of development.The close coordination that operates in these circulations is noteworthy. Thus, the circulation of people impacts the circulation of money and objects, which, in turn, fuels the circulation of social remittances and care. The article illustrates how spatial connectivity is established through the formation of a translocal development corridor connecting different locations in Cape Verde with small municipalities in Galicia, Spain. The multi-sited ethnographic methodology consisted of qualitative interviews with 36 individuals and participant observation, mainly conducted on the island of Santiago in Cape Verde and in the Galician town of Burela.
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