'This neighbor is not my uncle!': Changing relations of power and authority on the Mueda plateau

Abstract

At independence in 1975, the FRELIMO government abolished chieftaincy in Mozambique. Two decades later, Mozambicans are discussing the role to be played by 'traditional authority' in the post-civil war era. Current debates focus on whether or not kin-based political institutions can be considered 'legitimate' expressions of political community in the context of democratic decentralization. This article seeks to contribute to ongoing discussions by calling attention to the importance of complex and varied local histories. Looking at one such history in the Mueda plateau region, the paper demonstrates that kin-based political institutions have been brought into substantive interaction with larger political regimes - including the colonial and post-independence states and, between these, the structures of the FRELIMO guerrilla army - and that each of these encounters has been permeated by violence. The article suggests that within the context of this chaotic history, 'traditional authority' has been reinvented several times over, making it impossible to simply 'recognize' or 'revive' it on the one hand, but on the other hand imprudent to ignore the continuing salience of kin-based political institutions. Implications for political reform debates are briefly discussed in the final section of the article. © 1998 Journal of Southern African Studies.