Corn, Sea and Morna as Metaphor for the Construction of the Identity of Cape Verdeans

Contributed by Dr. Manuel Veiga Minister of Culture of Cape Verde

Speech at Bristol C. College
Translated by Dr. Ambrizeth Lima

1. Cape Verde is a Creole nation. We are the first nation in the world that is totally Creole in its origin, formation, affirmation and prominence

2. We were born, raised, we developed and we are still developing at the junction of blood (race) and cultures.

3. Today, through emigration and socio-cultural mobility, the connection between blood (race) and culture endures in a very dynamic and multilateral way.

4. In order to better express this identity, I will use a metaphor, which will show our identity with three letters M:

- M for Midju which is corn

- M for Mar which is Sea

- M for Morna

5. Corn represents fecundity of the land, but it also symbolizes the struggle to transform the land; suffering when rain takes long in coming; happiness when the landscape becomes green; a grand old party, with corn in the pestle (pilon), cornmeal (farinha) in the binde, katxupa on the table, batuku in the courtyard, grogue (vodka) in the bottle, bride in the chair, fireworks in the air, lots of dancing to the sounds of funana, Talaia Baxu and Kola San Jon, when the foliage has the color of hope and bountiful harvest is the gift of a generous rainy season.

Corn is a metaphor for struggle, resistance, change in environment, environmental creativity, tenacity in the face of diversity, our relationship with the land, with an imaginary environment, but also celestial transcendence.

The poet Ovidio Martins wrote: “the goats taught us how to eat rocks”. This because with resistance that comes from the corn, we are capable of turning rocks from our land into cornmeal for kuskus, into a road on which to walk, into school for learning, land to be farmed, atelier to create a world, to transform the world and change the world.

I’m saying all this to show that Corn is a strong metaphor for our identity. It is a metaphor for pain, labor, resistance, the remaking of a new ecology, of a new anthropology. We could also use water as a metaphor. Water is the soul of the corn and land. Through the course of our history, the search for water and corn is a kind of epopee. We are still seeking more water and more corn to strengthen our anthropology, to feed our cosmology, to diversify or ecology, to make our identity richer.

Because of water and corn, we stood firm and determined to transform it, but we also left for far-away lands, to seek more water and more corn, more sustenance for the body and for the spirit. Today, a kernel the corn has more granules and the jug has more water. For these reasons, our nation is becoming healthier and healthier.

This language is figurative and metaphoric, but its de-codification is not difficult. But, if for some reason the message is obscured, I’m here to explain “terra-terra, azagua-azagua” (as simply as possible).

6. From the Corn metaphor we will move to the Sea metaphor. If corn and water connects us with the soil from our land, and the sky of our archipelago, the Sea connects us with the world. The Sea is the far-away road, is the road paved with sodadi, and has been the grave of many slaves, of many slave ships, of many ships full of immigrants searching for a better life, more corn, more water, and more light to shine from the bottom of the valleys to the prairies and the hilltops.

The Sea was the faraway road, the road paved with sodadi, and many times, the road paved with desperation, but nonetheless connected us with the world. It is the source of disgrace, but also the point of connection; it is the prison, but also freedom; it is hardship but also possibility; it is real strength but also virtual energy. In our history, our anthropology, North and South joined together, struggled with each other, embraced each other, to create a new world that is not just North or just South. It is North and South mixed together and entrenched in each other. From being so close to each other, a new anthropology (people) was born, a “kriolidadi” (creoleness) that makes us unique and identifies us.

Today, the way for ships has turned into the way for airplanes, technology, the way for encounters among Creole men and women who share blood ties and humanism in every place where there is a Cape Verdean diaspora; where they struggle, work and strive toward the betterment of their people, and the affirmation and validation of our country, our history and our identity.
The Sea of pain became and is becoming the Sea of love.

Yesterday, mestizos were born on the Cape Verdean soil, a mixture of white and black, within a context of slavery or colonization. Today, mestizos continue to be born from the junction of blood (race) and cultures, a wealth of humanity in every place where there is a creole immigrant, a student or a traveler. A labor full of pain is becoming a birth full of love.

7. It is at the junction of blood and cultures, in the laboratory and caldron of encounters and reencounters that Morna, the soul of our creoleness was born and continues to be nurtured.

Morna is the metaphor of our mestizo culture, it is the metaphor for our knowledge, our lives, our tradition, our philosophy of life and cultural anthropology. If Corn symbolizes the physical and the Sea our virtual being, Morna symbolizes our spiritual being, the fruit of the union of Corn and Sea.

Every day, every hour, every second, Morna is born from a guitar on one of our islands, on the sea waves of our archipelago, through those who stayed so they can wait for those who left, through those who left looking for more corn, more water and more light; through all the artists, creator or researcher that travels with Cape Verde in his baggage throughout the world, and brings the world to Cape Verde in the strings of his guitar, in the rhythm and beat of a new melody, in the plans and projects toward the development of the country; in the architecture and construction of a more united humanity, richer and more universal.

8. The Corn, Sea and Morn metaphor is the reason why this year we are presenting before UNESCO, the request to make Sidadi Velha an Patrimony (Endowment) for Humanity.

If our identity has as its components Corn, Sea and Morna, the role of the world in the formation and elaboration of this identity is big. The worth of Sidadi Velha is not only found in its old stones or ruins that we find in this historical site.
The worth of Sidadi Velha has other bases:

- It is in the bridge that Sidadi Velha established between Europe and the African Continent, America and Asia;

- It is in the role that it played as a laboratory for experimentation and acclimatization for the human species, animals and vegetation, before being taken to Europe, Brasil and other parts of America;

- It is in the role of harbor for ships needing water and food, when traveling between Europe, America and Asia. That is how Diogo Gomes, Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama disembarked in the bay of Sidade Velha.

- But it is mainly due to a new culture that was born on the soil of Cape Verde, a creoleness rich and dynamic, a culture that is the result of various forms of humanism, it is mainly due to all this that Sidadi Velha, the Cape Verdean metaphor, is already a patrimony for humanity, even before being recognized as such.

Today, it’s en vogue to talk about globalization. Well, our identity was born in globalization and is still part of globalization since 15th Century. Through Corn, Sea and Morna an identity was born on the soil of Cape Verde; this identity makes us proud, awes the world, and validates and enriches our cultural patrimony for humanity.

And if Cape Verde is small in terms of territory, hidden behind these ten granules of land, it is vast culturally. It has the vastness of the Sea, it has the wisdom and richness of Morna and it has the strength and symbolism of a kernel of corn.

- Corn is the metaphor for work, resistance, suffering, tenacity and the relationship with the land and the sky. It symbolizes above all the material facet of our identity;

- The Sea is the metaphor for prison and freedom; for hardship and possibility; for leaving and returning with more corn, more water and more light, with more tools to toil the land. It can represent fulfilled dreams sometimes, but those unfulfilled other times. It symbolizes the virtual facet of our identity.

Morna is the offspring of the rainy season and the corn, of tragedy and epopee of the Sea. It is a Creole being, the product of many encounters. It is a metaphor for our culture, and our creoleness. It symbolizes our spiritual identity.

Corn, Sea and Morna make up the triangle of our identity, an identity based on hardship and love; an identity that was constructed and an identity that is being constructed; a formed identity, an identity in the process of being newly formed; an identity that has been realized, and yet open and in the process of being realized. All this is to say that Cape Verde, geographically is only ten granules of land; but culturally, we can say that it is a world power.

Thank you Dr. Ambrizeth Lima for your excellent translation of Dr. Veiga inspiring speech. The metaphoric power of Midjo, Mar and Morna really do exemplify the narraative of Cape Verdeans, a people who have suffered so much, succeeded in spite of the odds, and will continue to rise and shine. On that note, I say viva Kabu Verdi.