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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | 'The Traditional Lion is Dead': The Ambivalent Presence of Tradition and the Relation between Politics and Violence in Mozambique |
| Author: | Bertelsen, Bjørn Enge |
| Year: | 2003 |
| Periodical: | Lusotopie |
| Pages: | 263-281 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Mozambique |
| Subjects: | violence Frelimo UNITA traditions Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Politics and Government History and Exploration Law, Human Rights and Violence |
| External link: | http://lusotopie.sciencespobordeaux.fr/bertelsen2003.pdf |
| Abstract: | Mozambique's violent past in various ways impinges on the present and shapes political practices and cosmologies. This article, which is based on research carried out in Honde, a peri-urban locality near Chimoio, the capital of Manica Province, in 1999-2000, examines the past and present tense relations between politics and violence in the country. Specifically, it argues that, given an increase in the use and invocation of tradition in national politics, tensions between different levels of society may be increasing. The article explores dimensions of Mozambique's historically narrow relation between tradition and politics. It shows that the legitimacy of 'tradition' is related to several issues: it is integral to violent practices; it is extremely ambivalent; and Renamo's prior role as guardian of tradition is to an increasing degree challenged by Frelimo's tentative appropriation of tradition in political and election settings. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French, Portuguese and English (p. 555). [Journal abstract] |
