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Disruption without transformation: agrarian relations and livelihoods in Nampula province, Mozambique 1975–1995

1998; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03057079808708569

1465-3893

M. Anne Pitcher,

African studies and sociopolitical issues

Abstract Since independence, three processes have shaped the lives of rural Mozambicans: the implementation of socialist policies, a protracted and low intensity civil war, and the more recent commitment to privatise state assets. This article examines their impact on agrarian economic relations and institutions of local political power in Nampula, northern Mozambique from 1975 to 1995. It describes and compares the ways that rural people constructed their livelihoods to cope with the effects of these processes. The article finds that socialism, war, and privatisation disrupted rather than transformed agrarian relations in Nampula. They reshaped rather than replaced local political authority and certain customary patterns, and they have unsettled rather than reconfigured the ways in which rural people make a living. Three reasons explain why disruption without transformation occurred. First, the outcomes of socialist policies and the war were inconclusive, and it appears that the effect of privatisation will be indeterminate. Second, pre‐existing political and economic structures have influenced and undermined efforts to transform agrarian relations. Third, rural people themselves have acted to shape the impact of policies and other external factors in unpredictable ways. These findings may help us to understand recent developments in Mozambique's countryside.