ABSTRACT
This is a personal recollection of years of research and teaching stays in Mozambique with the institutional support of Centro de Estudos Africanos of the Eduardo Mondlane University. In the second half of the twentieth century, Mozambique suffered radical transformations. The first was the Frelimo-led liberation struggle (1962–1975) which later on led to the adoption of Marxist–Leninist nation state (1975–1992). The second came into being in the aftermath of Renamo destabilization war. It involved the drafting of a new Constitution (1990) and the adoption of multiparty democracy and market economy. Yet this radical change was unable to fulfill citizenship and developmental expectations. To describe their understanding of what is a ‘citizen’, people never ceased to use the language of their experience. Hence, the popular references to chibalo (forced labor), and indigenato. Land reforms can illustrate this situation clearly. Although Mozambique has adopted what many consider to be one of the best land legislation in Africa, control of the land continue to be decided to the advantage of the most powerful interests. In this perspective, the use of words such as chibalo and indigenato is in fact a description of how people recognize and articulate their history of exclusion and their struggle for an inclusive citizenship.
