Designing national identity through cloth: Pánu di téra of Cape Verde

Abstract

This article analyzes the way in which pánu di téra shapes the history of Cape Verde. Pánu di téra is a cotton fabric that began to be produced in the archipelago in the mid-fifteenth century, the technique having been brought from Africa to the islands by Guinean slave weavers. It was later used as trading currency for the acquisition of slaves from Africa’s West Coast to be sold in Brazil, migrating there as well. Following their independence in 1975, pánu di téra will came to be a testimony to the islands’ African heritage, and a symbol of Cape Verdean identity. It is in the context of the re-Africanization process led by the PAIGC (the African party for the independence of Guinea and Cape Verde) following independence that a valorization process begins which, in conjunction with opening markets and growing tourism, culminating in the establishment of pánu di téra as a trademark of Cape Verdeanhood. With this process in mind, I analyze the effects of globalization in an island context and the possible forms of resilience to it.