Afri
Africa
African authors on governance
African civil society development
African cultural criticism
African cultural renaissance
African economic transitions
African grassroots movements
African identity formation
African intellectual discourse
African literary engagement
African literary modernity
African literary perspectives
African nationhood debates
African political critique
African social realism
African societal change
African societal resilience
African socio-economic studies
African Studies
Category=JP
Category=NHH
Category=NHTQ
Chiziane literary analysis
Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
contemporary African authors
contemporary Mozambique studies
corruption in Mozambique
Couto literary critique
critique of utopian narratives in Africa
cultural production in Mozambique
development and governance in Africa
development narratives in Africa
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gender and patriarchy in Africa
globalization and African economies
identity and self-determination in Africa
Momple social commentary
Mozambican contemporary fiction
Mozambican cultural expression
Mozambican literary activism
Mozambican literature in context
Mozambican national discourse
Mozambican political history
Mozambican social issues
Mozambique in global context
nation-building in Mozambique
post-communist African nations
postcolonial African identity
postcolonial African literature
postcolonial critique of world trade
postcolonial state challenges
poverty and inequality in Africa
social justice in Mozambique
social transformation in Mozambique
violence in postcolonial societies
youth and nation-building in Africa
Product details
- ISBN 9781933227078
- Weight: 525g
- Dimensions: 149 x 220mm
- Publication Date: 30 Nov 2003
- Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Despite the critical tone of many of the articles in this collection, today's Mozambique has the potential to become a true success story, not as designated by the outside world, but as determined from within. The fact that critical voices are now raised, as much in the rich cultural output of the nation as in the structures of civil society, raises the possibility of a tangible improvement in the lives of ordinary Mozambicans, since every problem must be recognized before a solution can be reached. Chiziane's interrogation of patriarchal practice, Momplé's portrayal of corruption and abject poverty, Couto's depiction of senseless violence, refashion our image of Mozambique away from the utopian paradise-in-the-making that it never was towards a more profound questioning of the problems that this very young nation faces. What remains to be seen is whether Mozambique will finally be allowed to determine its own destiny or whether that small window between the fall of communism and the obliterating rise of the hegemony of world trade was too brief to permit a meaningful Mozambican identity to come into being.
Phillip Rothwell is Professor of Portuguese at Rutgers University. His recent publications include, A Postmodern Nationalist: Truth, Orality and Gender in the Work of Mia Couto (Bucknell, 2004), A Canon of Empty Fathers: Paternity in Portuguese Narrative (Bucknell, 2007), and Sexual/Textual Empires: Gender and Marginality in Lusophone African Literature (Bristol, 2004; edited with Hilary Owen).
