Rap e graffiti na Kova da Moura como mecanismos de reflexão identitária de jovens afrodescendentes

Abstract

This article deals with the condition of black youth in post-colonial Portugal. The reflexion is based on the ethnographic fielwork carried-out by both researchers in the neighborhood of "Alto da Cova da Moura". This particular neighbourhood has been dubbed by the media and various public institutions as a problematic and dangerous territory on the outskirts of Lisbon. This neighborhood is inhabited mostly by immigrants from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa and their descendants. It is, therefore, what we could call an "African neighborhood" composed mainly by capeverdeans and their descendents. Young people who live here are faced with a complex condition, resulting from poverty, social and ethnic stigmatization, etc. In these contexts youth social identities have been interpreted as rather complex and ambivalent, as a consequence of their different and sometimes conflicting cultural references. RAP and Graffiti are much present in young people's everyday lifes. In the case of Cova da Moura these may be interpreted as fundamental expressive instruments. Through these expressions young people develop mechanisms of reflexivity and contestation, discussing their role and place in contemporary Portuguese society. We argue, therefore, that these may constitute empowerment resources for black young people, through which they build up a concrete idea of "blackness" in a multicultural and multiethnic country.