Violent Becomings, Bertelsen Bjorn E.

Violent Becomings conceptualizes the Mozambican state not as the bureaucratically ordered polity of the nation-state, but as a continuously emergent and violently challenged mode of ordering. In doing so, this book addresses the question of why colonial and postcolonial state formation has involved violent articulations with so-called ‘traditional’ forms of sociality. The scope and dynamic nature of such violent becomings is explored through an array of contexts that include colonial regimes of forced labor and pacification, liberation war struggles and civil war, the social engineering of the post-independence state, and the popular appropriation of sovereign violence in riots and lynchings.

List of Illustrations, Figures, and Maps
Acknowledgements
Note on Anonymity and Fieldwork
A Note on Language
Glossary
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms
List of Key Historical and Contemporary Persons