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Rethinking the 1961 Baixa De Kassanje Revolt: Towards a Relational Geo-History of Angola

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Rethinking the 1961 Baixa De Kassanje Revolt: Towards a Relational Geo-History of Angola UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Provisional Reconstructions: Geo-Histories of Infrastructure and Agrarian Configuration in Malanje, Angola Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/85x9k374 Author Degrassi, Aaron Laurence Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Provisional Reconstructions: Geo-Histories of Infrastructure and Agrarian Configuration in Malanje, Angola By Aaron Laurence deGrassi A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Michael J. Watts, Chair Professor Gillian P. Hart Professor Peter B. Evans Abstract Provisional Reconstructions: Geo-Histories of Infrastructure and Agrarian Configuration in Malanje, Angola by Aaron Laurence deGrassi Doctor of Philosophy in Geography University of California, Berkeley Professor Michael J. Watts, Chair Fueled by a massive offshore deep-water oil boom, Angola has since the end of war in 2002 undertaken a huge, complex, and contradictory national reconstruction program whose character and dynamics have yet to be carefully studied and analyzed. What explains the patterns of such projects, who is benefitting from them, and how? The dissertation is grounded in the specific dynamics of cassava production, processing and marketing in two villages in Western Malanje Province in north central Angola. The ways in which Western Malanje’s cassava farmers’ livelihoods are shaped by transport, marketing, and an overall agrarian configuration illustrate how contemporary reconstruction – in the context of an offshore oil boom – has occurred through the specific conjunctures of multiple geo-historical processes associated with settler colonialism, protracted war, and leveraged liberalization. Such an explanation contrasts with previous more narrow emphases on elite enrichment and domination through control of external trade. Infrastructure projects are occurring as part of an agrarian configuration in which patterns of land, roads, and markets have emerged through recursive relations, and which is characterized by concentration, hierarchy and fragmentation. 1 Table of Contents Chapter 1 : Introduction: Agrarian Reconstruction in Post-War Oil-Boom Angola ...................... 2 Chapter 2 : A Critical Spatial Chronology: Beyond Creole Elite, Neo-Patrimonialism, and Dutch Disease in Angola ......................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3 : Rethinking the 1961 Baixa de Kassanje Revolt: Towards a Relational Geo-History of Angola ......................................................................................................................................... 145 Chapter 4 : Security and Subversion in the Logistical Reconstructions of Angola’s Transport Infrastructure ............................................................................................................................... 183 Chapter 5 : Interlude – The Kapanda Agro-Industrial Growth Pole as a Microcosm of National Reconstruction Approaches ........................................................................................................ 227 Chapter 6 : Real Cassava Markets from War Dissolution to the PRESILD Markets ................. 243 Chapter 7 : More than Trade and Grabbing: Agrarian Concentration, Fragmentation, and Hierarchy ..................................................................................................................................... 289 Chapter 8 : Conclusion: Beyond Contradictions ........................................................................ 357 References ................................................................................................................................... 362 Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 402 i Detailed Table of Contents Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................... i Illustrations ................................................................................................................................ vii Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................ xii Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. xvi Technical Notes ...................................................................................................................... xviii Chapter 1 : Introduction: Agrarian Reconstruction in Post-War Oil-Boom Angola ...................... 2 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3 1.1.1 Context ........................................................................................................................... 6 1.1.2 Conventional Interpretations ........................................................................................ 11 1.1.3 War: The $200 Billion ‘Elephant in the Room’ ........................................................... 12 1.1.4 Key Themes in a Critical Relational Geography of Agriculture, Resources and Infrastructure in Africa .......................................................................................................... 19 1.1.5 Summary of Contributions, Sources and Methods ....................................................... 23 1.2 Argument and Chapter Structure ......................................................................................... 25 1.2.1 Issues and Sequence ..................................................................................................... 25 1.2.2 Chapter 2: A Critical Spatial Chronology .................................................................... 26 1.2.3 Chapter 3: Rethinking Kassanje ................................................................................... 27 1.2.4 Chapter 4: Reconstruction and Use of Roads ............................................................... 28 1.2.5 Chapter 5: Interlude – The Kapanda Agro-Industrial Pole ........................................... 30 1.2.6 Chapter 6: Agro-Food Provisioning and Marketing ..................................................... 31 1.2.7 Chapter 7: Agrarian Configuration ............................................................................... 32 1.3 Study Area and Methodology: Inconstant Geographies of Western Malanje ..................... 33 1.3.1 Kota and Around .......................................................................................................... 39 1.3.2 Amaral .......................................................................................................................... 41 1.3.3 Kuzuka .......................................................................................................................... 47 1.3.4 Mwanya ........................................................................................................................ 47 1.3.5 Details on Methodology ............................................................................................... 48 ii Chapter 2 : A Critical Spatial Chronology: Beyond ‘Creole Elite,’ Neo-Patrimonialism, and Dutch Disease in Angola .............................................................................................................. 53 2.1 Angola 1500-2014: A Brief Spatial Chronology ........................................................... 53 2.2 The Weight of History and the Neo-Patrimonial Creole Rentier-Gatekeeper State ...... 64 2.2.1 Spatiality in Conventional Models of Angola’s Political Economy ............................. 68 2.3 Key Limitations of Conventional Models ...................................................................... 75 2.4 Conjunctures as an Alternative Explanation: Settler Colonialism, Protracted War, and Leveraged Liberalization ........................................................................................................... 80 2.3.1 Settler Colonialism ....................................................................................................... 80 2.3.2 Protracted War .............................................................................................................. 81 2.3.3 Leveraged Liberalization .............................................................................................. 83 2.5 The ‘(Mbundu) Creole Elite’ of Angola: Geo-History and Identity .............................. 87 2.5.1 Distribution of White and Mestiço Population ............................................................. 90 2.5.2 ‘Creole’ vs Multiple Identities ...................................................................................... 96 2.5.3 Ethnographic Cadasters, Colonial Historiographies, and Geographic Erasures ........ 101 2.5.4 ‘Creole Elite’ as Reified by Cold Warriors and Savimbi ........................................... 121 2.5.5 The Mythical Metonym of ‘The Dozen Great Families’ ............................................ 124 2.6 Neo-Patrimonialism: Extractive Institutions, the Resource Curse, and Spatiality ......
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