Intergroup Relations & Power : An ethnographic case study observing the multicultural staff of Cambambe, through the lenses of Psychology & International Relations Theories

Abstract: This is an ethnographic case study, based in participant observation, which investigates and analyzes how the everyday relationships between Europeans, South Americans expatriates & Angolan nationals, are structured in a common transnational labor community in Angola, named Cambambe. This study investigates if there are any features of post-colonial power relations that affect and shape the interactions between those three communities. Thus, if the contemporary forms of relationship, as expressed by this community, can still be compared to that old hard power stereotype namely labor relations from the colonial past, or if those have changed with modernity. In doing so, this study equally analyzes not only how the interactions between the three communities is expressed in terms of identity, culture and ethnic belonging, but also how such expressions bring about tangible consequences for the groups relating to their social and institutional positions inside the working community. Furthermore, this study examines if the three group populations are able to go beyond their ethnic and cultural boundaries in order to create common zones of togetherness and empowerment, and if so, how these zones are shaped. To do so, the analysis observes how the intergroup perceives power into their relational context, focusing in four dimensions, namely; rationality, perceived justice, material resources and identity. Moreover, this is a multidisciplinary analysis which makes use of the theoretical lenses provided by the post-colonial theory, psychology of intergroup relations and power theories in international relations, to shed light into the understanding of contemporary labor communities and in the position of the post-colonial subjects in society in a North to South perspective.