Abstract
In this article, I provide an overview of literary portrayals of the cities of Luanda and Maputo over the course of their histories from the colonial period to the post-independence era. In particular, I draw on the literary images and descriptions of the cities to demonstrate a design of inequality that their urbanism determines. Finally, I argue that a struggle for terrain and citizenship—in the conquest of space by colonizers and the reconquest of lost places by the colonized—draws the lines of that inequality.
Highlights
In this article, I provide an overview of literary portrayals of the cities of Luanda and Maputo over the course of their histories from the colonial period to the post-independence era
I will draw on the literary images and descriptions of the cities of Luanda and Maputo to demonstrate a design of inequality that their urbanism determines
Paulo de Luanda a Luuanda, de Lourenço Marques a Maputo: capitais coloniais em tempos pós-coloniais” (PTDC/CLELLI/122229/2010 - FCOMP-01- 0124-FEDER- 019830), which was financed by Fundos FEDER through the Programa Operacional Factores de Competitividade and by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Summary
The imposition of cities in the European sense on colonized spaces introduced a dynamic of a struggle for territory, which gained weight and took various forms. This group often came from outside the urban boundaries, as was the case of those from mainland Portugal (the metropolitanos) in the colonial era, portrayed in Portuguese colonial literature, or the case of migrants from the hinterland, attracted by the development inherent to a capital, in a common movement from the countryside to the town both before and after independence The majority of the latter were the men and women who lived in the musseques of Luanda and caniço of Maputo. The sense of struggle heralding a confrontation to come embodied in the texts of that time, expressed the tension of different groups living in close proximity, characteristic of colonial society, and the colonial city in particular It was not a linear opposition between whites and blacks or mixed race people, but between freedom and submission, social justice and inequality. Mas eu não me deixei adormecer! Levantei-me e gritei contra a noite sem lua, sem batuque, sem nada que me falasse da minha África, da sua beleza majestosa e natural, sem uma única gota da sua magia! A luz verde incendiou-se no meu olhar e foi fogueira vermelha na noite fria dos revoltados. (130)
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