Global Journal of Human Social Science, C: Sociology and Culture, Volume 21 Issue 5

meaning. On the one hand, the persistence of “a still open wound ” 3 III. A lto da C ova da M oura : T he N eighbourhood in the Portuguese social fabric, that is, a malaise that prevented the development and the social transformation so expected by the Portuguese then. On the other hand, even though African immigrant individuals come from different countries such as Angola, Guinea Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, or even, Senegal, Zaire, Guinea Conakry, all this diversity was deliberately stifled in a single Creole identity: Cabo Verdean. Before the 1980s, Cova da Moura ’s neighbourhood (16 ha 2 area) was in the enclave of the Parishes of Buraca and Damaia and belonged to the Municipality of Oeiras . Currently, these three zones, plus the southern area of the Parish of Reboleira are integrated into a single administrative area: The Parish of Águas Livres , Municipality of Amadora . Cova da Moura is located at 15 kilometres from Lisbon, with easy access to public transportation (subway, train, and bus), as well as to the main highways that cross the surroundings (HORTA, 2000, p. 146). Cova da Moura’s history dates to the 1940s, during the Estado Novo regime (1933-1974). A dictatorial regime characterized, on the one hand, by a strict control and supervision of illegal land occupation and, on the other hand, by the permanent struggle of temporary agricultural workers for a parcel of land, in the face of large properties and large estates, to guarantee housing and subsistence stability (Baptista, 1994, p. 910). The neighbourhood's historical trajectory can be summarized in three periods: a) the first dwellings, when the area was essentially agricultural (1940-1974); b) the “revolution” (1974-1978), characterized by the moment of socio-political upheaval and coinciding with the arrival of half a million returnees from the former colonies, and the increase in African labour immigration; and, finally, c) its “consolidation”, that is, the period of the housing self-construction boom, during the 1990s. We refer to the time when public policies, social housing programs, immigration policies, issues concerning citizenship etc. were inaugurated. A time span covering since Portugal's accession to the European Union and the Euro era, until today. The story of Cova da Moura ’s trajectory is about times of standing tall against an identity policy that reduced poor immigrant residents to hegemonic representations both of illegality and criminality. The official discourse was unable to conceive them as an “administrative and judicial problem. Rather, the 3 See Preamble to Decree-Law n. º 163/1993, of May 7 th . emergence and development of neighbourhoods like Cova da Moura have always been a “social problem” that required state intervention (cf. Antunes, 2017). In turn, from an insider’s perspective of the neighbourhood, during the process of construction of the place, the first voices that arose among the demands were those of the “returnees”. Men, usually heading their families, referring to themselves as victims of decolonization and forced displacement. The late creation of the neighbourhood residents’ commission in the late 1970s carried a protest from this group that sought to categorically distance itself from the other African immigrant residents, mostly Cape Verdeans from the island of Santiago ( badius ). Over the decades, these speeches have been appropriated by official mechanisms and the media, which reduced all the neighbourhood’s residents to a group of lawless, illegal, and marginalized individuals. Official documents, and papers published in the academic field seemed to agree with the definition of Cova da Moura as “a model illegal neighbourhood”, which “had taken on its illegal origins” and the struggles for “legalization” (Horta, 2000, p. 213). a) Associativism and cultural identity Since Cova da Moura ’s foundation, the mobilization around Cape Verdean identity has worked as an important resource for articulating strategies of struggle amongst residents. Note that, identity is an event that comprises the flowing of subjects’ life experiences, beyond an abstract series of oppositions. According to Cuberos- Gallardo, the process has been endowing residents with a criterion of cohesion and defining group limits. Hence, the trajectory led to the adoption of its own codes and shared referents, to the extent that the processes of residents’ mobilization have been systematically reinforced since their origins by resorting to the forms of traditions and modes of sociability of Cabo Verde islands (2017). In Cova da Moura , resident’s struggling for basic infrastructures has always demanded lots of efforts. The Cape Verdean population, which had been increasing since the beginning, took place, without leading, in the neighbourhood residents’ commission. The institution initially revolved around Portuguese residents, returnees, and a supposedly small African elite. As the few improvements made in the neighbourhood were selective, Cape Verdeans began to feel ignored and their claims postponed by other commission’s priorities. The emergence of ACMJ happens in response to a doubly conflicting situation: one with an external root, leading residents to organize themselves in the defence of their demands before uninterested government institutions; and the other, a conflicting situation of an internal character that made them confronting the situation of abandonment, forming their Volume XXI Issue V Version I 3 ( ) Global Journal of Human Social Science - Year 2021 C © 2021 Global Journals Kola San Jon De Cova Da Moura : An Instrumental Case of Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding in the African Diaspora in Portugal