The reasons for a murder: local cultural conceptualizations of the martyrdom of Gonçalo da Silveira in 1561

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Periodical article

Title:	The reasons for a murder: local cultural conceptualizations of the martyrdom of Gonçalo da Silveira in 1561
Author:	Roufe, Gai
Year:	2015
Periodical:	Cahiers d'études africaines (ISSN 0008-0055)
Volume:	55
Issue:	219
Pages:	467-488
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Zimbabwe Portugal
Subjects:	missions homicide martyrs missionary history
About person:	Gonçalo da Silveira (1526-1561)
Abstract:	The martyrdom of the Jesuit father Gonçalo da Silveira is considered both in early Portuguese documentation and in modern scholarship as a very significant event which had substantial implications on the course of the history of the Portuguese presence in southeastern Africa. The present article provides a new interpretation of this event by reconstructing and unfolding its local meanings using contemporary and subsequent Portuguese historical and ethnographic written documentation and oral traditions of the population of the region. By doing this, this article challenges orthodox historical narratives of a region relatively rich in written historical documents by demonstrating our ability to understand the manner in which historical events were interpreted from an indigenous point of view. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]