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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Making the Chikunda: Military Slavery and Ethnicity in Southern Africa |
| Authors: | Isaacman, Allen F. Peterson, Derek |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Periodical: | International Journal of African Historical Studies |
| Volume: | 36 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Pages: | 257-281 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | Mozambique Portugal |
| Subjects: | ethnic identity Kunda (Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe) slaves colonial conquest Military, Defense and Arms Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) History and Exploration Labor and Employment Law, Human Rights and Violence colonialism |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3559384 |
| Abstract: | This article explores how military slaves on Portuguese-run estates ('prazos') along the Zambezi River (in contemporary Mozambique) came to define themselves as sharers of a new social identity, Chikunda ('the conquerors'). Portuguese settlers used the slaves as soldiers, to collect taxes from peasants, patrol the borders, and police the estates. Asked to perform highly dangerous tasks in the service of their owners, slaves developed shared behaviours and beliefs, a patrilineal system of kinship and inheritance, and a rich repertoire of cultural practices (songs, ceremonies, initiation rituals, clothing, facial tattoos) that celebrated their prowess as warriors and hunters. Chikunda identity was in large part the product of slaves' own cultural and political work. Slaves made themselves Chikunda in order to set themselves apart from the local peasantry, gain leverage with owners, and lend meaning and prestige to their lives of danger. After the collapse of the 'prazos' in the nineteenth century and the manumission of the slaves, former soldiers enlarged on their shared history and forged a Chikunda ethnic identity which survives up to the present day. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract] |
