ABSTRACT
The Western or Northern conceptions of civil society, based on classical liberal thought, are the main reference points for interpreting civil society in the global South within development studies and practice. From a critical postcolonial epistemological perspective, we will question many of the key assumptions underlying this approach. Having been involved in the various steps of framing a civil society research project in Mozambique, a project that aimed to look at the conceptual considerations necessary for civil society studies in the global South, we share in this chapter some methodological learning generated from the project and our previous experience. We work through some of the various understandings of civil society in Mozambique based on our analysis of the country context, covering the colonial period of the late nineteenth century up to contemporary postcolonial times, and provide a brief overview of various aspects of civil society and their political-societal significance. Based on preliminary research conclusions we will then put forward some broader epistemological and methodological hypotheses for civil society research in a Southern context.
