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UC Santa Cruz UC Santa Cruz Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Performing Citizens and Subjects: Dance and Resistance in Twenty-First Century Mozambique Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1w33f4s5 Author Montoya, Aaron Tracy Publication Date 2016 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ 4.0 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ PERFORMING CITIZENS AND SUBJECTS: DANCE AND RESISTANCE IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY MOZAMBIQUE A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in ANTHROPOLOGY with an emphasis in Visual Studies by Aaron Montoya June 2016 The Dissertation of Aaron Montoya is approved: ____________________________________ Professor Shelly Errington, Chair ____________________________________ Professor Carolyn Martin-Shaw ____________________________________ Professor Olga Nájera-Ramírez ____________________________________ Professor Lisa Rofel ____________________________________ Tyrus Miller Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies Copyright © by Aaron T. Montoya 2016 Table of Contents Abstract iv Agradecimientos vi Introduction 1 1. Citizens and Subjects in Portuguese Mozambique 20 2. N’Tsay 42 3. Nyau 84 4. Um Solo para Cinco 145 5. Feeling Plucked: Labor in the Cultural Economy 178 6. Conclusion 221 Bibliography 234 iii Abstract Performing Citizens and Subjects: Dance and Resistance in Twenty-First Century Mozambique Aaron Montoya This dissertation examines the politics and economics of the cultural performance of dance, placing this expressive form of communication within the context of historic changes in Mozambique, from the colonial encounter, to the liberation movement and the post-colonial socialist nation, to the neoliberalism of the present. The three dances examined here represent different regimes, contrasting forms of subjectivity, and very different relations of the individual to society. N’Tsay (1984) is a dance produced by the National Song and Dance Company (CNCD) about a female heroine; suggesting that the people of Mozambique will find a way to stand up to the violence and wretchedness of the present as they stood up to it in the past. Nyau is a traditional dance genre performed by the male Nyau secret society and designated UNESCO World Cultural Heritage. When performed in the context of national festivals nyau is about hinterland, renegade males calling on the spirits of the ancestors to assert power over both the rulers and the ruled. Augusto Cuvilas’ controversial choreographic work, Um Solo para Cinco (2004), contrasts with the ascendance of nyau in the 2000s. Cuvilas, trained in Mozambique, Cuba, and France, was the darling of the CNCD but eventually was rejected and reviled, and murdered in 2007. Um Solo para Cinco is a classic for Maputo art-goers and public intellectuals, but something better forgotten for public officials and religious leaders. Whereas masked male nyau dancers excite audiences with their performances of menace and disorder, the five iv female dancers in Um Solo para Cinco create anguish by revealing their naked bodies. The female dancers perform the disintegration of social life and their dispossession in the current era compared to the prowess of uncontainable male hinterland dancers. Um Solo para Cinco expresses another form of resistance, quieter but in many ways more powerful, another form of subjectivity that reveals the precariousness of everyday work and life. The dances are wonderful examples of body politics; they recall the system of Citizens and Subjects that was instituted through colonial rule and communicate Mozambicans experiences with this legacy in contemporary social life. v Agradecimientos Dedico mi tesis a mi padre Louis Emery Montoya y a todos los que vinieron antes de él. Muchos años, muchas personas, muchas celebraciones y muchas decepciones han hecho parte de éste proyecto. Quiero agradecer a todos aquellos que en Mozambique estuvieron dispuestos a poner pensamientos en mis palabras respondiendo a mis preguntas. Agradezco a todos los hombres y mujeres en Mozambique que con entusiasmo discutieron mis inquietudes, y que al mismo tiempo me enseñaron lo que es importante para ellos. Éste proyecto ha sido posible gracias al grupo de mujeres que afectivamente llamo “las mosqueteras”, Shelly Errington, Carolyn Martin-Shaw, Lisa Rofel, and Olga Nájera-Ramírez. Ellas han sido pilares soportando la construcción del proyecto con su paciencia, generosa y constante fuerza propulsora. En particular quiero agradecer a Shelly y Carolyn por enseñarme como escribir, como navegar el mundo de los eruditos y ser firme y fiero. Olga entró en un momento vital para mantener el proyecto en línea, manteniendo el énfasis en danza siempre en la mira. Otros que fueron instrumentales en guiarme académicamente fueron Jude Todd, Don Brenneis, Ted Warburton, Jennifer González y Elisabeth Cameron. Nada habría conseguido si no fuera por Taylor Ainslie y Fred Deakin. Mis mejores cuates y maestros fueron mis colegas en el departamento de antropología, que su compañía y pláticas eruditas y superfluas en los pasillos fueron como un ungüento en las heridas durante las largas jornadas en el gran suplicio de escribir. vi Hay muchos amigos y colegas en Mozambique para mencionarlos aquí. Una pequeña lista comienza con Lúcio Chumbitico y Atanásio Nhussi, así como otros bailarines, músicos y educadores, como Adriana Jamisse, Filomena José, María Luisa Mugalela, Cândida Mata, Agostinho Xadreque, Júlio Matlombe, Abel Fumo, María José Macamo, Casimiro Nhussi, Bernabe Fundi, Abacar Mulima, Jacqueline Cullen, Zé Miguel, Rolando Lamussene, Andre Martins y todos los estudiantes de PAD (Programa de Apoio à Dança) y participantes de Pós-AMATODOS. Un fuerte abrazo para artistas, académicos y familiares que fueron cálidos y generosos como Pompilio y Elia Gemuce, Jorge Dias, Giafranco Gandolfo, David y Chiqui Macuácua, Olivia Mariquele, Juan Estrada Farfán, Neli Macamo y familia, Kheto Macuácua, Hermanas Dulce y Pauli, Chico Antonio, Anita Bucuane, Ken Hansen, Víctor Sousa, Gilberto Cossa, Alda Costa, Antonio Sopa, Cidalia Chissano, Rosa Langa y José Texeira. Muchos amigos también en el Centro Cultural Americano en Maputo (antiguamente USIS): Harriet McGuire, Tobias Bradford, Merritt Becker, Argentina, Pedro, Manuel, Amelia, Esmeralda, Sergio y Angelo. Muchas instituciones en Mozambique también apoyaron mi investigación como la Escola Nacional de Artes, Escola Nacional de Dança, Companhia Nacional de Canto e Dança, Instituto Superior de Artes e Cultura, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, MoNo (Noruega), Ministerio Real de Noruega - Asuntos Exteriores, la Embajada de los Estados Unidos en Maputo, y PEPFAR. vii Mi disertación fue hecha bajo los auspicios de Eugene Cota Robles Fellowship, National Science Foundation Fellowship, y Ford Foundation Fellowship. Y por supuesto, con el generoso apoyo de mis padres—Fundación Montoya. Un enorme abrazo a mi familia Eric, Tracey, Ava, y todos los Montoyas. Y todo mi amor a Cathie Montoya, mi madre. I love you mom. Para los amores de vida Emiliano y Yula, vine a Santa Cruz para hacer un doctorado y terminé no solo haciendo un doctorado si no cimenté una familia. Gracias a mi partner in crime, Yula Cisneros Montoya, por las desveladas, los pleitos, y las primeras lecturas de mis bosquejos amorfos. viii Introduction This dissertation examines the politics and economics of the cultural performance of dance in twenty first century Mozambique, placing this expressive form of communication within the context of historic changes from the colonial encounter, to the liberation movement and the post-colonial socialist nation, to the neoliberalism of the present. The Argument I frame my argument by referring to Mahmood Mamdani’s rightfully influential book Citzens and Subjects. Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism (1996). Colonial rule was based on hierarchies of privilege, largely but not exclusively racial: at the top, white settlers (along with their allies who might be of East Asia or even occasionally of African descent); at the bottom, the largely rural and indigenous African population. Mamdani calls these two categories of persons who were subject to colonial rule “Citizens” and “Subjects.” He writes about Uganda and South Africa, but the structural distinctions he points to apply elsewhere. In Mozambique, as in much of Africa, these two categories of privilege could be mapped not only through “race” but also legally, economically, and spatially. “Citizens” had full access to legal privileges and protections, whereas “Subjects,” typically the colonized population, were denied these rights and were administered under what were seen as customary laws and tradition. Citizens had access to 1 economic resources and power, whereas Subjects were marginalized or excluded from the sources of the greatest wealth (capital and trading networks, and, later, capital, labor, and industrial infrastructure). Citizens lived largely in areas of dense population and permanent buildings, such as ports and urban centers, whereas subjects lived in poorer urban areas or in rural towns and villages. These distinctions were also reflected within urban spaces: the city of Lourenço Marques, the Portuguese administrative center which with Independence in 1975 was renamed Maputo, was segregated between the urban core for citizens, built of cement (cidade de cimento),