ABSTRACT

This qualitative study investigates the discursive construction of Santomean identity grounded in the migratory experience of youths who moved to Portugal to pursue their studies. It is based on semistructured interviews with young Santomeans living in Central Portugal. Santomeans typically identify as both native speakers of Portuguese and Black Africans, but once in Portugal, this identity is challenged by Portuguese who may perceive them as linguistically deficient. This article focuses on the ways young Santomeans position themselves and others, and the identity choices they make in doing so. Findings suggest that the distance between Black and white youths is reinforced by the teachers’ and students’ practices in class. These young Santomeans navigate raciolinguistic ideologies, engage in processes of identification, and draw on linguistic, social, and racial categories to redefine their identities. Although the process of identity formation is multi-layered, the data indicate that the most fundamental category remains race.

摘要

这项定性研究调查了以移居葡萄牙求学的年轻人的移民经历为基础的桑托米亚身份的话语建构。它基于对居住在葡萄牙中部的年轻桑托米亚人的半结构化采访。桑托米亚人通常认为自己的母语是葡萄牙语和非洲黑人，但一旦到达葡萄牙，这种身份就会受到葡萄牙人的挑战，葡萄牙人可能认为他们在语言上有缺陷。本文重点关注年轻的桑托米亚人如何定位自己和他人，以及他们在此过程中做出的身份选择。调查结果表明，黑人和白人青少年之间的距离因教师和学生在课堂上的行为而加深。这些年轻的桑托米亚人驾驭种族语言意识形态，参与识别过程，并利用语言、社会和种族类别来重新定义他们的身份。尽管身份形成的过程是多层次的，但数据表明最基本的类别仍然是种族。