Spatial order of a divided society: Production and appropriation of conflict spaces in Mozambique (cancelled)
Even more than 40 years after independence, Mozambique has not gained political stability and peace. The decades-long civil war ended in 1992, but since 2012 the post-colonial country has again been the scene of armed conflicts. At the local level, large-scale projects by international companies, especially in the north of the country, triggered new social conflicts and terrorist attacks. In addition, the country continues to be divided into the south, dominated by the former liberation army FRELIMO, and the central parts of the country, ruled by the opposing RENAMO. A contested culture of remembrance appears to fuel the conflict dynamics.
In view of the recurring conflicts and their spatial dimensions, this project aimed to investigate with ethnographic methods how internal and external actors continue to reproduce the divisions in Mozambique’s spatial and social order, and to identify ways to break these cycles. The research focus was set on space as a an expression and a strategy of social and political practice.
The Covid-19-pandemic made the planned empirical research impossible so that this project was cancelled in August of 2020.
The project was supported with funding by the Ökohaus Foundation for two years.
- Lopez-Granados, Estefania