The human mobility as strategy facing the volcanic risks: The case of Ilha do Fogo (Cape Verde)

Abstract

Migration patterns at the beginning of the twenty-first century are nothing new, but there are historical forms of spatial mobility that require in-depth analyses and understanding. This can be partly achieved by considering the cultural turn, focusing on migrants’ social and cultural behaviour in the context of individual vulnerabilities and interpreting migration studies as an interdisciplinary research field. The example under study corresponds to a new interpretation of mobility linked to natural hazards, such as volcanic eruptions. Human behaviour and attachment to the home place are analysed as a challenge to borders of areas at volcanic risk.

The case study of the 2014 eruption in Ilha do Fogo (Cape Verde) shows the intrinsic spatial relation between nature and people and the resilience of human mobility to overcome natural disasters. The sway of migrations that depend on volcanic eruption processes and on interim stages is a good example of the importance of social and cultural behaviour of inhabitants on volcanic islands. The statistical information of the latest volcanic eruptions (1995 and 2014), changes in the location of populations and dwellings, and especially aerial photographs, satellite pictures and galleries of shots and snapshots of areas affected by lava flows, are a powerful testimony of the cultural and economic resilience of human mobility faced with natural hazards.