Waiting for the Portuguese: Nostalgia, Exploitation and the Meaning of Land in the Malawi-Mozambique Borderland

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Periodical article

Title:	Waiting for the Portuguese: Nostalgia, Exploitation and the Meaning of Land in the Malawi-Mozambique Borderland
Author:	Englund, Harri
Year:	1996
Periodical:	Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Volume:	14
Issue:	2
Period:	July
Pages:	157-172
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Mozambique Malawi
Subjects:	values colonial policy land land use agricultural land Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Agriculture, Natural Resources and the Environment
Abstract:	This paper examines the cultural value of land among villagers in the borderland of Malawi's Dedza District and Mozambique's Angonia District. Based on fieldwork carried out in 1992-1993, it shows how the meaning of land in borderland villagers' moral order has appeared in their encounters with Portuguese settlers before independence, during the displacement of Mozambicans as a consequence of the war in Mozambique, and in villagers' expectations after the war. The author shows that, by virtue of the cultural emphasis on performance, and their positive memories of Portuguese settlers, borderland villagers today eagerly await the return of white settlers. Moving beyond the documentation of postcolonial nostalgia, the paper discusses the extent to which exploitation is made possible by the meaning of land among the Dedza-Angonia borderland villagers in the current disarray of Mozambican land administration. Bibliogr., notes.