| Summary/Abstract |
Global discourses and measures to combat corruption have often built on and reinforced the image of a dichotomy between the supposedly non-corrupt European Self and the underdeveloped, corrupt Other. This article unsettles this binary by looking at practices and discourses of corruption among Portuguese migrants to Angola. Recently, the economic crisis in southern Europe pushed thousands of Portuguese citizens to migrate to Portugal’s former colony in search of economic security and opportunities. Building on 55 in-depth interviews with Portuguese migrants and their Angolan work colleagues, the article shows how in Angola, the Portuguese encountered a society marred by both high-level and petty corruption. However, the migrants were affected by and engaged in corruption in very different ways, depending on their socio-economic situation. Non-elite migrants, and particularly the undocumented, were susceptible to corruption as they struggled to complete their paperwork, make a living and support families back home. Migrants involved in big business were often closely allied with the Angolan elite and engaged in bribery and other forms of corruption in their profit-making ventures. The article also discusses identity construction in this postcolonial context. It finds that a persistent image of the former colonial masters as ‘civilizers’ and ‘more developed’ coexists with the new Portuguese position of subordination and vulnerability in relation to the unpredictable and corrupt Angolan party-state. Anti-corruption is, however, not part of a new Portuguese civilizing mission – rather the similarities and continuity between Portugal and Angola is emphasized, and corruption is described as a shared problem.
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