Ethnic identity is constructed based on differences (Poutignat and StreiffFenart, 1995, p. 41) - that is, in relation to the 'other'. As Da Cunha emphasizes,  
As emphasizes, what has been gained from studies on ethnicity is the precise notion that identity is constructed situationally and through contrast, i.e. that it constitutes a political response to a given conjuncture, an articulated response to the other identities involved, with which it forms a system (Da Cunha, 1985a, p. 206).  
The construction of identity is therefore based on a strategy of highlighting differences. In this respect, the situation is very clear: the formerly enslaved people returning to their homeland view the native people as wild and continue themselves to be viewed as slaves who imitate 'white manners'. On the whole, the only thing the formerly enslaved people - whether of Yoruba, Fon, Mina or another origin - had in common with each other was the fact that they had been enslaved in Brazil: they spoke Portuguese, had 'white ways' and mostly said they were Catholic. They thus identified with the Brazilians who had long been settled on the coast, forged alliances with them and came to be considered as 'Brazilians'.