ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 traces the making of a historical narrative that frames refugees as problematic. In the twenty-first century, the figure of “the refugee” dominates global conversations but the rhetoric is trenchant because many presume refugees to be either helpless victims or dangerous threats. These default associations, however, are historical constructs and this chapter argues that historians have paid far too little attention to narratives that showcase refugee resilience and agency. This chapter demonstrates that in the 1960s, Mozambican refugees possessed considerable leverage on the international stage—in part, because Cold War contestations led a host of actors (national governments, humanitarian organizations, the United Nations) to view refugees as people to be wooed—largely through educational opportunities. This chapter weaves together literature on decolonization and humanitarian/human rights history with archival evidence, primarily US State Department memoranda, to contextualize Mozambique’s war for independence by laying the conceptual foundation for how historians might conceive of displaced Mozambicans as agents rather than burdens during decolonization.
