Performing the Past Celebrating Women’s Day in Northern Mozambique

Abstract

The Mozambican liberation struggle (1964-1974) fought mostly in the province of Cabo Delgado, in Northern Mozambique, left important memories and became a part of the imagination and the construction of the country. It has been 33 years since independence, and large numbers of the population are now too young to remember how the war was fought. Consequently, recreating the struggle has become an important part of remembering; re-telling and passing on of national and local history to the younger generation. I will discuss how this representation of the past is appropriated by the ruling party of the state, which has excluded/silenced the alternative perspectives and experiences of all those who, while living in the province, did not take part in the struggle or fought with the Portuguese.Based on fieldwork conducted in Mozambique between 2005 and 2006, drawing in particular on participant observation of the celebrations of the Women’s Day in 7 April 2006, and extensive interviews with former fighters (both male and female) of the liberation struggle, I will discuss the importance of memory and of public celebrations in the maintenance, and re-shaping of past events. This article will consider the symbolic representation of life in the bush, the celebration of the memory and work of Josina Machel—one of the most influential women during the liberation struggle and wife of the future first Mozambican president, Samora Machel. These are combined with important identity references. These will be discussed with reference to ideas about gender equality—in particular how these ideas impact on the popular and political discourse, and are at the same time different from local reality.