CEsA joins new research project on representations of Islam in Mozambican literature and visual arts

The CEsA – Centre for African and Development Studies (ISEG Research/ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa) is joining a research project in partnership with the CEA – Centre for African Studies at Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique). Entitled O Oceano Índico como Horizonte Criativo: Representações do islã na literatura e nas artes visuais de Moçambique (The Indian Ocean as a Creative Horizon: Representations of Islam in Mozambican Literature and Visual Arts, in English) the project will be carried out by Dr Fernanda Gallo (CEsA/ISEG Research) as part of her postdoctoral research, under the supervision of Professor Dr Chapane Mutiua (CEA/UEM). This research is part of the Public Call MCTI/CNPq no. 16/2024 – Support for International Scientific, Technological and Innovation Research Projects (Track 2: Individual Project).

The Indian Ocean as a Creative Horizon seeks to map and analyse literary and visual works produced in Mozambique in the post-independence period, whose creative processes engage with an Indic perspective and, in particular, evoke representations of Islam – understood as a millennial catalyst of cultural, commercial and religious exchanges on the East African coast (Dasgupta and Pearson, 1987; Hofmeyr, 2018) – including the dissemination of transregional circuits of non-European language writing (Bonat, 2016; Mutiua, 2014, 2015; Mutiua and Vierke, 2020, 2022). Although Islam is practised by around 45% of the African population and 18% of Mozambicans, its literary and artistic representations remain largely under-researched, functioning as a kind of “hidden embroidery” (Leite, 2020), thereby opening a field for academic exploration. The proposed research thus seeks to engage with ongoing discussions on the Indian Ocean as a “unit of analysis” (Bose, 1998), a “site of world-making and topography of memory” (Leite, 2018), a “visual metaphor” (Fendler, 2018), and a “liquid archive” (Vergès, 2003; Falconi, 2013; Brugioni, 2019).

CEsA’s participation in this project reinforces the centre’s commitment to internationalising partnerships with other leading institutions in African studies and contributes to scientific innovation in the field.

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Authorship: CEsA Communications (CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa) with information by Dr Fernanda Gallo
Image: Reproduction