Portuguese and Lusophone-World Lecture Series -- Farmers, Founders, and Political Activism

Portuguese and Lusophone-World Lecture Series -- Farmers, Founders, and Political Activism: The Portuguese and Cape Verdean Agricultural Community of Falmouth and the Upper Cape

Miguel Moniz (PhD Brown), presents a broad survey of Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigration to the Upper Cape throughout the 20th century, exploring facets of cultural, economic and political life, and how these differed from the urban settings of New Bedford, Fall River, and the Boston area. The history of the rural settlement of Falmouth and the Upper Cape helps to challenge some of the misconceptions about Portuguese and Cape Verdean life in New England, including the fallacy that these community members were not politically active. In addition to the agricultural cooperatives, the talk will explore some of political activities of early organizations founded in Falmouth, including the Portuguese Fraternity, the Portuguese American Civic League, and the Cape Verdean Citizens Political club, and their prominent role in countering the racialized “movement to Americanize the immigrant.” With parallels to other 20th century Portuguese agricultural zones in Dartmouth, MA and Little Compton, RI, this discussion will highlight a little known model of Portuguese and Cape Verdean settlement in New England.

From Falmouth, Miguel Moniz (PhD Brown) is an anthropologist at the Center for Research in Anthropology (CRIA)-ISCTE/Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in Portugal and Director of the Migrant Communities Project (New England/Portugal). He was a visiting scholar at Brown University from 2019-21 where he was the Michael Teague visiting Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies (FLAD) in Fall of 2019. Moniz research examines migration, labor history, race and ethnicity, and his work has been supported by fellowships and grants from Fulbright Foundation, European Research Council, Portuguese National Science Foundation (FCT), Fundação Luso-Americana, National Endowment for the Humanities, Rhode Island Endowment for the Humanities, Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Erasmus +.

The Portuguese and Lusophone-World Lecture Series is made possible by the New Bedford Whaling Museum and in-part by the Luso-American Foundation, and the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies of Brown University.