Dépasser le colonial. Les nouveaux migrants portugais en Angola

Abstract

For the first time in sub-Saharan Africa’s postcolonial history, large numbers of citizens of a European former colonial power are migrating to an ex-colony. Portuguese migrants are attracted by Angola’s strong economic growth and are seeking to escape crisis in Portugal. This article focuses on everyday workplace relations between Angolans and Portuguese. In particular, it analyses how colonial power relations still resonate with both groups and whether their mutual imaginaries are moving beyond the colonial past. The article concludes that dependence on access to the labour market and the goodwill of Angola’s political and administrative class has undercut the ex-colonisers’ dominance. Yet colonial imaginaries are still in play, particularly among the Portuguese. Consequently, postcolonial power relations among Angolans and Portuguese are contested and unstable.