In Memoriam Patrick Chabal (1951-2014): An interview with Malyn Newitt (King’s College London)

Philip J. Havik: When did you first meet Patrick? When he joined King’s College as a lecturer in Politics and Modern History of Lusophone Africa in 1984? Or earlier? What was your first impression? Malyn Newitt: I did not have any major contact with Patrick until around 1996. Professor Helder Macedo, the Camões Professor of Portuguese at King’s College London, had completed the negotiations with a number of Portuguese financial institutions and foundations for the establishment of the Charle..

In Memoriam Patrick Chabal (1951-2014): An interview with Malyn Newitt (King’s College London)

Philip J. Havik: When did you first meet Patrick? When he joined King’s College as a lecturer in Politics and Modern History of Lusophone Africa in 1984? Or earlier? What was your first impression? Malyn Newitt: I did not have any major contact with Patrick until around 1996. Professor Helder Macedo, the Camões Professor of Portuguese at King’s College London, had completed the negotiations with a number of Portuguese financial institutions and foundations for the establishment of the Charle..

Urban football narratives and the colonial process in Lourenço Marques

Support for Portuguese football teams, in Mozambique as well as in other former Portuguese colonies, could be interpreted either as a sign of the importance of a cultural colonial heritage in Africa or as a symbol of a perverse and neo-colonial acculturation. This article, focused on Maputo, the capital of Mozambique – formerly called Lourenc¸o Marques – argues that in order to understand contemporary social bonds, it is crucial to research the connection between the colonial process of urbanisation and the rise of urban popular cultures. Despite the existence of social discrimination in colonial Lourenc¸o Marques, deeply present in the spatial organisation of a city divided between a ‘concrete’ centre and the immense periphery, the consumption of football, as part of an emergent popular culture, crossed segregation lines. I argue that football narratives, locally appropriated, became the basis of daily social rituals and encounters, an element of urban sociability and the content of increasingly larger social networks. Therefore, the fact that a Portuguese narrative emerged as the dominant form of popular culture is deeply connected to the growth of an urban community

The Uncertainty of Prosperity: Dependence and the Politics of Middle-Class Privilege in Maputo

In this essay, I examine the moral basis of a ‘middle class’ in Maputo, Mozambique, the narratives, forms of dependence and types of hegemony that the social hierarchy rests upon. I argue that the political and economic processes that have given rise to ‘new’ middle classes in the global south also create conditions of precariousness. In recent years, it has been argued that these ‘emerging middle classes’ are central for economic growth and the safeguarding of a stable, liberal order. The case of Mozambique complicates this assertion and demonstrates an occurrence now taking place across the globe. When the relationships of dependence and obligation and the narratives that justify them erode, the structures of power that may have once been mutually constitutive between an emerging middle class and the state can become damaging as the system they once upheld loses its legitimacy

The legacies of coercion and the challenges of contingency: Mozambican unions in difficult times

Although insecure work may be found everywhere, the general lack of secure work in emerging economies is a particularly striking feature of the contemporary condition, undermining the continued viability of the labour movement in such countries. Yet, this topic is rarely tackled directly in African studies or business history journals. The two key questions addressed in this paper are, first, to what extent does the labour movement’s past define their present and future, and second, what are the challenges and opportunities affecting their ability to mobilise workers, influence government and effectively tackle employment security? This article details how in Mozambique, unions’ ability to mobilise has been affected by: the post-colonial, post-conflict and post-socialist historical context; the resulting legacies of regional and racial discrimination; international imperatives for liberalisation and privatisation; challenging relationships with the country’s African neighbours; and high levels of informal sector work. In order to remain viable, key imperatives include: effectively influencing national government, engaging internationally and working with organisations representing informal sector workers

Cuidados biomédicos de saúde em Angola e na Companhia de Diamantes de Angola, c. 1910-1970

Pretende-se caracterizar a prestação de cuidados biomédicos em Angola durante a atividade da Companhia de Diamantes de Angola. Uma análise comparativa de políticas e práticas de saúde pública de vários atores coloniais, como os serviços de saúde da Companhia, sua congénere do Estado e outras empresas coloniais, revelará diferenças de investimento na saúde, isto é, instalações e pessoal de saúde, e tratamentos. Este escrutínio bem como as condições de vida iluminarão o carácter idiossincrático e central dos serviços de saúde da Companhia em termos de morbimortalidade em Angola, e a centralidade destes para as representações de um império cuidador

The history of Angola Jill Dias never wrote

As we meet to celebrate the memory of Jill Dias, it is difficult to think of any scholar whose death has so profoundly affected the academic community. To those who did not know Jill it is not always easy to explain what was so special about the life and work of a scholar who, after all, never published a book. In Oxford in the 1950s there were many learned fellows of Colleges who believed that it was beneath the dignity of gentlemen scholars to use their doctoral titles and that it was rathe..

Emmanuelle Besson, «Autour du Procès de Joaquim Pinto de Andrade : L'église catholique et l'Angola colonial 1960-1975», Le Fait Missionaire, XII, June 2002

Newitt Malyn. Emmanuelle Besson, «Autour du Procès de Joaquim Pinto de Andrade : L'église catholique et l'Angola colonial 1960-1975», Le Fait Missionaire, XII, June 2002. In: Lusotopie, n°10, 2003. Violences et contrôle de la violence au Brésil, en Afrique et à Goa, sous la direction de Camille Goirand . pp. 500-501