Moçambique
O Oriente é um bordado oculto na história de Moçambique: Entrevista com Ana Mafalda Leite
In this interview, Ana Mafalda Leite discusses the Indian Ocean and the East, as well as their meanings for Mozambican literature and for her poetic and academic trajectory.
Desafios para Moçambique, 2022
Abstract:
This issue of Desafios para Moçambique (2022) comes as the country faces enormous challenges – the war in Cabo Delgado, with some signs of expansion into other provinces; the Rovuma basin gas extraction and liquefaction projects, which realise some 24 Challenges for Mozambique 2022 Introduction of the greatest challenges in Mozambique’s economic history; the lingering effects of the global crisis, the bursting and implosion of the economic bubble, of which the sovereign debt crisis was a manifestation, and the social and economic after-effects of the covid-19 pandemic. These challenges and crises stimulated research and resulted in lessons, some of which are developed in this issue. Recently ended in Maputo, the trial of some of the state agents and private agents involved in the illicit international financial transactions that resulted in the odious debts. What was already clear before – that these illicit transactions are a reflection of more general dynamics of expropriation, privatisation and financialisation of the state for private accumulation of capital, even if this is done at heavy social costs – has, if possible, become clearer. The hypothesis that the legal process, which we had the opportunity to follow for about a year and a half, only touched on the recipients of commissions for corruption and influence peddling, the executors of the great default against the public purse, was confirmed.
Quotation:
Castel-Branco, C.N., Ali, R., Chichava, S., Forquilha, S., Muianga, C. (2022) Desafios para Moçambique, 2022. IESE. Maputo, Moçambique. ISBN: 978-989-8464-58-3
Working Paper 186/2022: Estado, Nação e Etnicidades em Moçambique
Abstract:
The processes of state and nation building begin soon after independence and establish a link between them, although each has its own logic. While the nation refers to collective identity, the State refers to the existence of a central-level political authority, respected throughout the territory. As evidenced during the text, a significant part of the State structure that emerged after national independence was the result of the Portuguese colonial legacy, idealized by FRELIMO’s ruling elite and implemented as a project of formation of the “New Man”, which occurred in an imperative way and through uniformizing policies. Estado, Nação e Etnicidades em Moçambique analyses the process of State and Nation building in Mozambique, whose population is characterised by a diversity of ethnicities. The first section presents a reflection on the foundations, the main actors and the actions towards the formation of the nation-state. In the second, we discuss the relationship between nationalism and socialist ideology, the latter interpreted in the post-independence period as the only path that would lead to development and to a society free from exploitation. With the 1990 constitution, a new order of political and economic liberalisation came into force. We seek to critically examine the political process underway in the country, in defiance of the dominant conceptions in the media, government, business and academic circles. To this end, we rely on bibliographic research and official documents, in addition to the experiences of two scholars who develop work in Quelimane, capital of Zambézia province in central Mozambique.
Quotation:
De Melo, C. M., Material Alves, G. e Martins, M. D. (2022). “Estado, Nação e Etnicidades em Moçambique”. CEsA/CSG/ISEG/ULisboa – Documentos de Trabalho nº 186/2022
Literatura colonial de autoria feminina: O Último Batuque, de Maria do Céu Coelho
Abstract:
Portuguese colonial literature written by women has received little attention in Lusophone literary and cultural studies. The most relevant exception, in this regard, is the case of Maria Archer, author of a significant number of fiction and non-fiction texts of colonial setting and theme that have received diverse readings and analyses. In particular, Ferreira’s works on women’s authorship writing and the connections between gender, nation and empire were pioneers in approaching this production according to an integrated theoretical framework, capable of illuminating material and symbolic transits and identity reverberations between nation and empire, in line with the paradigms of colonial and feminist historiography of the 1990s. Literatura colonial de autoria feminina: O Último Batuque, de Maria do Céu Coelho, aims to deepen and broaden the knowledge of Portuguese women’s writing on colonial themes, by providing a reading of the book O último batuque (1963) by Maria do Céu Coelho, published in Mozambique in the early 1960s. It is a singular work, for focusing on the eminently masculine topic of hunting from a woman’s perspective, and also for being a hybrid book that combines memorialistic writing and short novellas about the rural universe of colonial Mozambique. The paper discusses some of the essential characteristics of Portuguese colonial literature, as it has been conceptualized by several authors in previous studies. Resorting also to the vast literature on the articulations between gender, empire, and colonialism, the article seeks to equate the author’s position in the corpus of colonial literature, as well as to reflect on how her literary writing articulates race and gender.
Quotation:
Falconi, Jessica (2021) “Literatura colonial de autoria feminina: O Último Batuque, de Maria do Céu Coelho,” Portuguese Cultural Studies: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Declinações: Identidades de Género e Construção da Nação em Filmes de Licínio Azevedo
Abstract:
Declinações: Identidades de Género e Construção da Nação em Filmes de Licínio Azevedo addresses the representation of gender differences in nation building in Mozambique in two fiction films by Brazilian-Mozambican filmmaker Licínio Azevedo, namely: Virgem Margarida (2012) and Comboio de Sal e Açúcar (2017). Focusing on different moments in the history of Mozambique, the films address little explored aspects of the crises and the historical, political, social and cultural changes experienced by the new independent country. Virgem Margarida focuses, in particular, on the experience of the re-education camps lived by women, while in Comboio de Sal and Açúcar the male characters of the Frelimo army involved in the civil war stand out. The two films bet on a representation of the genders – understood as social and cultural constructions – able to account for their differences, thus shattering, on the one hand, the monolithic image of women, and on the other, the Mozambican national identity itself. The films represent several possible “decliNations”, understood here in accordance with the multiple meanings of the word: refusals, deviations, or even “flexions of gender, number”, etc., of the Nation.
Quotation:
Falconi, J. (2019). Declinações: Identidades de Género e Construção da Nação em Filmes de Licínio Azevedo. Perspectiva Histórica 13: 81-105. http://www.perspectivahistorica.com.br/revistas/1563933990.pdf“
A poesia de Glória de Sant’anna: um roteiro de leitura dos primeiros livros
Abstract:
Through in-depth analysis of thematic aspects of the work of Glória de Sant’Anna, a poet of Portuguese origin who lived for over two decades in Mozambique, we will analyze in A poesia de Glória de Sant’Anna: um roteiro de leitura dos primeiros livros the poetic imaginary based on natural elements, especially aquatic, which are resumed by the generation of post-independence poets. Through the articulation of thematic elements identifiable with water, we intend to contribute to the definition of a thematic core built around the imaginary of the Indian Ocean, which has been asserting itself since the colonial period and which constitutes one of the key thematic cores for understanding Mozambican poetry. In this essay, we intend to demonstrate that in the most intimate texts, the poet metaphorically reworks the oceanic imaginary, turning it into a universal space of identification between the lyric self and the vastness of the Indian Ocean horizon. This work is financed by national funds through FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., under the NILUS-Narratives of the Indian Ocean in the Lusophone Space Project (PTDC/CPC-ELT/4868/2014). This text reworks an essay that will be published in a collection of texts in tribute to Glória de Sant’Anna (in press) and is the result of the research of the PhD thesis defended in 2017.
Quotation:
“Spinuzza, Giulia. A poesia de Glória de Sant’Anna: um roteiro de leitura dos primeiros livros. Mulemba, UFRJ, Brasil, vol. 11, n. 21, Dezembro 2019, p. 136 https://revistas.ufrj.br/index.php/mulemba/issue/view/1302/showToc”
Voices, Languages, Discourses: Interpreting the present and the memory of Nation in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe
Abstract:
Voices, Languages, Discourses: Interpreting the Present and the Memory of Nation in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe brings together a selection of interviews with writers and filmmakers from Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe in order to examine representations and images of national identity in these countries’ postcolonial narratives. It continues and completes the exploration of the postcolonial imaginary and identity of Portuguese-speaking Africa presented in the previous interview volume Speaking the Postcolonial Nation: Interviews with Writers from Angola and Mozambique (2014). Memory, history, migration and diaspora are central notions in the recreation and reconceptualisation of the nation and its identities in Cape Verdean, Guinean and São Tomense literary and film culture. By bringing together different generations of writers and filmmakers, with a wide variety of perspectives on the historical, social and cultural changes that occurred in their countries, this book makes a valuable contribution to current debates on post-colonialism, nation and identity in these former Portuguese colonies.
Quotation:
Leite, A., M., Falconi, J., Krakowska, K., Kahn, S., Secco, C. (2020). Voices, Languages, Discourses: Interpreting the Present and the Memory of Nation in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Príncipe. Oxford, United Kingdom: Peter Lang Verlag. Retrieved Oct 6, 2022, from https://www.peterlang.com/document/1055586
The Cluster as a Theoretical and Practical Tool for Portuguese International Cooperation for Development: The cases of Mozambique and Angola
Abstract:
The Cluster as a theoretical and practical tool for Portuguese International Cooperation for Development: the cases of Mozambique and Angola seeks to provide a contribution towards knowledge of the theory and practical effects of the new instrument in the hands of Portu¬guese cooperation for development – clusters in cooperation – both in re¬gard to the countries receiving international aid and in terms of the effect that its creation and implementation may have, through what we can call the “boomerang effect”, on the reform of public and private cooperation institutions in Portugal, above all at the Instituto de Apoio ao Desenvol¬vimento (the Development Support Institute – IPAD). As for the theoretical side, we maintain that it is only the connection of this concept to benchmarking, as it is taken to mean in the reform of public administration currently underway, that will turn it into a real poli¬cy measure, as opposed to virtual measures that are announced and never put into practice. Then it can provide an innovative contribution to the re¬form of public institutions and the non state actors who make up the field for Portuguese cooperation, which operates within the current framework of international consensus about the area, and the public administration reform policy of the current government. In terms of practical operations, we maintain that that this should be achieved by a flexible model that is perfectly feasible and not in any way Utopian. With this model, cooperation programmes can be developed which are the tailor made for the priorities in each country. This can be carried out by using the methodology of partnership and the evaluation of those results that give the best quality and are the most participative possible in all the phases of identification, conception, implementation and evaluation. This means keeping in mind the Portuguese political op¬tions and those of the partner countries, as well as the coherence, consis¬tency and institutional capacity of both sides. Experiences are needed of other countries that finance cooperation, and reference must be made to the most advanced cluster in Portugal – the project for the Island of Mozambique – as well as putting forward proposals for making the clusters operational. These can form a template of what Portugal can set out for the countries with which it is coopera¬ting, and can then also be extended to what we think could be the trans¬formations in Portuguese institutions of the “field” in the light of the ideas expressed here.
Quotation:
Sangreman, C., coord. (2017). The Cluster as a theoretical and practical tool for Portuguese International Cooperation for Development: the cases of Mozambique and Angola. Lisboa: ISEG – CEsA & CEI-ISCTE/IUL.
Brief Paper 6/1998: O Papel das Autoridades Tradicionais na Transição para a Democracia em Moçambique
Abstract:
The study of the role of traditional authorities in social processes in Africa, namely in the processes of democratic transition, is today a consensual issue among Africanists, and there are numerous works on the subject. However, this theme has been relatively neglected in what concerns the PALOPs, especially at the level of scientific studies. In the case of Mozambique, the debate started to gain some importance as from 1994, mainly due to the municipal elections, which as we know have not yet taken place (scheduled for 30 June). However, the debate has not taken on a scientific character, and fieldwork on the subject is still very scarce. I will talk about this subject a little later. In my case, the interest in the theme comes from the time of fieldwork, carried out in Búzi District, Sofala Province, in 1994, among Ndau populations. This work, entitled “Processes of Social Transformation in the Rural Universe of Post-Colonial Mozambique. The Case of Búzi”, intended to analyse the main social dynamics that occurred in the district after independence. In studying this process it was inevitable that some social categories would come to occupy a significant place, namely the traditional authorities, in view of the social and political place they held, and hold, in rural societies. I will return to these issues later. It is now convenient to dwell for a moment on a certain general theoretical framework given to the question of traditional authorities in Africa. Communication presented at the CESA 1998 Seminar: A Problemática do Desenvolvimento – Historicidade e Contributos Actuais numa Óptica Transdiciplinar (The Problem of Development – History and Current Contributions from a Transdisciplinary Perspective), Conference O Papel das Autoridades Tradicionais na Transição para a Democracia em Moçambique (The Role of Traditional Authorities in the Transition to Democracy in Mozambique), 14th May 1998.
Quotation:
Florêncio, Fernando. 1998. “O papel das autoridades tradicionais na transição para a democracia em Moçambique”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA Brief papers nº 6-1998.
Working Paper 163/2017: Identificação e Construção de Cenários Macroeconómicos para o Estudo de Impactos de Medidas de Política Económica. Uma abordagem matricial com simulação a Moçambique
Abstract:
The study of the impacts of economic policy measures involves, on the one hand, the identification of the reality on which such measures will be applied and, on the other hand, the construction of scenarios that allow their perception. This exercise is based on the activity of a country, whose complexity requires the use of instruments or work tools. Identificação e Construção de Cenários Macroeconómicos para o Estudo de Impactos de Medidas de Política Económica. Uma abordagem matricial com simulação a Moçambique, the Social Accounting Matrix, commonly known as SAM (from the abbreviation of the name in English – Social Accounting Matrix), is proposed as a working tool for the study of the activity of a country. Such activity, here designated as socio-economic, involves monetary or nominal flows measured by national accounts, as well as production (organized into factors, activities and products) and institutions (organized into households, public administrations, non-financial and financial corporations, non-profit institutions serving families and the rest of the world). With a concern for methodological detail, the potential of SAM will be explored for the reading and interpretation of the reality under study, as well as for carrying out experiments with its operation. In an approach based on SAM, we will see the possibilities of building networks, more or less complex, of connections of the flows mentioned above, from which specific structural characteristics can be highlighted and the associated multiplier effects studied. In this way, I will show that a numerical version of the SAM allows an empirical description of the origin, use, distribution and accumulation of income, while an algebraic version (or model based on the SAM) allows for a more in-depth study of the multiplier effects (or impacts) associated with changes in these flows, caused by the adoption of policy measures, for example. I will exemplify such potentialities of SAM, giving special attention to the functional and institutional distribution of income, through the construction and analysis of two scenarios involving changes in the remuneration of production factors and in the income of institutions. Such an application will allow the identification of the relevant role of production factor accounts (from SAM), as they establish the link between income generation and the corresponding distribution and use. I will also emphasize the importance of a matrix approach in the identification and construction of macroeconomic scenarios in the study of impacts of economic policy measures, highlighting the complementary details that an InputOutput Matrix (IOM) can add. An application to the case of Mozambique in 2015 will accompany the presentation. In this application we will often talk about simulation due to the unavailability of information regarding all the flows worked.
Quotation:
Santos, Susana (2017). “Identificação e construção de cenários macroeconómicos para o estudo de impactos de medidas de política económica. Uma abordagem matricial com simulação a Moçambique”. Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – CEsA/ CSG – Documentos de Trabalho nº 163/2017.
