This paper seeks to understand the influence of social context in the process of knowledge production and how, implicitly or explicitly, it also shapes the choice of themes, theories and concepts, leading to simulations and dissimulations, presences and absences. Taking Cape Verde as a case study, specifically studies of this archipelago conducted in the social sciences and humanities, in the most part by Capeverdean researchers, the present paper reveals an almost complete lack of relevant analytical categories such as "social class" "race" and "ethnic/ethnicity" in explaining the social formation of Cape Verde. In contrast, concepts such as "identity", "culture", "nation", and "Capeverdean-ness" tend play a central role.
Cape Verde; social class; race; ethnicity