Master dissertation Hadaya Diallo Boulanger

On September 25th of 1964, the FRELIMO initiated a long armed struggle against the Portuguese’ Colonial rule over Mozambique. In response, the Portuguese government implemented counter-insurgency strategies, such as the resettlement schemes in rural north Mozambique, known as aldeamentos. These war villages were aiming at the isolation of local populations from the guerilla forces, in order to retain their power over the colony. Throughout the Mozambican Liberation War, this dissertation will explore the aldeamentos as spatial instruments of colonial governance, embedded in broader systems of modernization, economic extraction and racial segregation. By tracing back the evolution of settlements models and ideal housing schemes, the research aims at understanding how colonial space was produced and ultimately weaponized. The research will attempt to reveal how transnational networks, geopolitical alliances and development narratives shaped rural planning in (late) colonial Mozambique. Faced with fragmented archives, the dissertation will adopt a layered methodology, combining historical archives, Google Earth Imagery, mapping, drawings and (digital) memoirs. The latter will help towards the partial reconstruction of aldeamento typologies and spatial elements, while also emphasizing the absence of displaced communities’ voices. Ultimately, this dissertation serves as a starting point, an initial multiscalar platform for examining the Mozambican war landscapes.