Abstract

This essay proposes an anthropological analysis of policies, starting from the ethnographic case of Cape Verde. Specifically, it critically reflects on the use of the resilience paradigm, understood as a rhetorical, but also organizational, device of contemporary public policies. It shows the transformations in the conception, promotion, and representation of public policies, showing how these are anchored in the vernacular notion of djunta mon, a local system of mutual aid. It will thus be shown how the implementation of public policies contributes to strengthening some aspects of Cape Verdean identity to the exclusion of others