TY - JOUR

T1 - Sharing Status and Appropriating Identity

T2 - The Case of the Conselho da Diáspora Portuguesa

AU - de Oliveira, Sandi Michele

PY - 2013

Y1 - 2013

N2 - On 26 December 2012 President Cavaco Silva announced the creation of the Conselho da Diápora Portuguesa, an association of 300 “notable” (notáveis) Portuguese to be individually invited by the Council’s Board. Their function will be to service as lobbyists working to improve the country’s image in the world. In other words, and according to the Council’s President Filipe de Botton, the Conselho da Diáspora Portuguesa will be able to “take advantage of the best that Portugal has to offer outside Portugal.”Through remittances, Portuguese emigrants have long been a source of economic benefit to their relatives in Portugal as well as to the needs of the Portuguese Government. This initiative, however, is different; here, in addition to direct economic benefits that the Council’s members may provide, their identity itself as successful Portuguese is put into play. Using tools from discourse analysis, this article examines the presentation of the Council and its objectives, as well as the characterization of its members, by Portuguese President Cavaco Silva and Council President Felipe de Botton on the occasion of the Council’s establishment, with comparisons to Cavaco Silva’s speeches on the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities (10 June 2013). The study focuses specifically on strategies of legitimization and delegitimization of Portuguese transnationals.

AB - On 26 December 2012 President Cavaco Silva announced the creation of the Conselho da Diápora Portuguesa, an association of 300 “notable” (notáveis) Portuguese to be individually invited by the Council’s Board. Their function will be to service as lobbyists working to improve the country’s image in the world. In other words, and according to the Council’s President Filipe de Botton, the Conselho da Diáspora Portuguesa will be able to “take advantage of the best that Portugal has to offer outside Portugal.”Through remittances, Portuguese emigrants have long been a source of economic benefit to their relatives in Portugal as well as to the needs of the Portuguese Government. This initiative, however, is different; here, in addition to direct economic benefits that the Council’s members may provide, their identity itself as successful Portuguese is put into play. Using tools from discourse analysis, this article examines the presentation of the Council and its objectives, as well as the characterization of its members, by Portuguese President Cavaco Silva and Council President Felipe de Botton on the occasion of the Council’s establishment, with comparisons to Cavaco Silva’s speeches on the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities (10 June 2013). The study focuses specifically on strategies of legitimization and delegitimization of Portuguese transnationals.

KW - Faculty of Humanities

KW - identity

KW - discourse

KW - citizenship

KW - legitimization

KW - status

KW - identitet

KW - diskurs

KW - Statsborgerskab

KW - Legitimitet

KW - status

M3 - Journal article

VL - 2

SP - 61

EP - 76

JO - Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies

JF - Interdisciplinary Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies

SN - 2325-3991

ER -