‘You were Cape Verdean before you were American’: An autoethnography of language, race, and diasporic border crossings

Abstract Existing research on Cape Verdean identities centers known heritage as the primary determinant of sociocultural positioning. Less frequently studied is the practice of discursively bringing non‐Cape Verdeans into a Cape Verdean imaginary through readings of language and race. Framed by the tactics of intersubjectivity and employing an autoethnographic lens, the present analysis attends to the ways that language and race converge in (un)official checkpoint interactions to shape perceptions of sufficient, authentic, and authorized Cape Verdeanness. The discussion highlights the raciolinguistic logics that sustain and contest colonial legacies, the negotiation of social identification, and the implications for diasporic connectedness and belonging.