| dc.description.abstract | ‘A Visual Struggle for Mozambique. Revisiting narratives, interpreting photographs (1850 –
1930)’ is a study that requires an engagement with the historiography of the Portuguese
empire, with reference to Mozambique. This is initially to provide some context for the East
African situation in which photography began to feature in the mid- to late 19th century. But
the other purpose is to see what impact the inclusion of visual archives has on the existing
debates concerning Portuguese colonialism in Mozambique, and elsewhere. The rationale for
this study, therefore, is to see what difference photographs will make to our interpretation and
understanding of this past.
The central issue is the ‘visual struggle’ undertaken to explore and dominate the territory of
Mozambique. Deprived of their ‘historical rights’ by the requirements of the Berlin Treaties
that insisted on ‘effective occupation’, the Portuguese started to employ a complex of
knowledge-producing activities in which photography was crucially involved. Constituting
part of the Pacification Campaigns that led to the territorial occupation, photographic
translations of action taken to control the different regions in fact define the southern, central
and northern regions of the country.
The chapters propose ways to analyze photographs that cover issues related to different forms
of knowledge construction. The resulting detail sometimes diverges from expectations
associated with their archival history, such as the name of the photographers and exact dates,
which are often unavailable.1 In discussing processes of memorialization, the thesis argues
that memory is fragile. The notion of ellipsis is applied to enrich the potential narratives of
the photographs. The thesis reads them against the grain in search of counter-narratives,
underpinned by the concept of ‘visual dissonances’, which challenges the official history or
stories attached to the photographs. Besides a participation in the general debates about the
work of photography in particular, this research is driven by the need to find new ways to
access the history of Mozambique. Ultimately the project will facilitate these photographic
archives to re-enter public awareness, and help to promote critical approaches in the arts and
humanities in this part of southern Africa. | en_US |
