This paper sets out why land expropriation is a hidden danger of the response to climate change; a danger that is not adequately captured in legislation and that risks disproportionately affecting... Show moreThis paper sets out why land expropriation is a hidden danger of the response to climate change; a danger that is not adequately captured in legislation and that risks disproportionately affecting the poor. Measures to mitigate the risks and impacts of climate change are often dependent on states’ access to land. The legal mechanism through which states can obtain rights over land is expropriation, but a fair expropriation process depends on a number of structural conditions that are (partly or completely) lacking in many countries: effective recognition of people’s land rights; a legally detailed expropriation process and adequate administrative capacity to implement it; and respect for the rule of law and access to justice for the affected populations. Climate change exacerbates the problems that many states have with their expropriation processes: it brings new and more complex questions about the limits of expropriation; provokes more urgent expropriations; and disproportionately impacts the poorest people. Based on legal analysis and empirical research, this paper looks into the case of Mozambique in the aftermath of Cyclone Idai to show how issues related with expropriation are a hidden danger for many Mozambicans, but also for citizens of other countries in similar situations. Show less
Nationalism, as an ideology coupling self-conscious peoples to fixed territories, is often seen as emerging from European historical developments, also in postcolonial countries outside Europe.... Show moreNationalism, as an ideology coupling self-conscious peoples to fixed territories, is often seen as emerging from European historical developments, also in postcolonial countries outside Europe. André van Dokkum’s Nationalism and Territoriality in Barue and Mozambique shows that this view is not universally true. The precolonial Kingdom of Barue in what is now Mozambique showed characteristics generally associated with nationalism, giving the country great resilience against colonial encroachment. Postcolonial Mozambique, on the other hand, has so far not succeeded in creating national coherence. The former anti-colonial organization and now party in power Frelimo has always stressed national unity, but only under its own guidance, paradoxically producing disunity. Show less
Shannon, M.; Otsuki, K.; Zoomers, A.; Kaag, M.M.A. 2018
With this article we contribute to debates on urban land governance and sustainable urban development in Africa by providing an empirical analysis of forced displacement and resettlement associated... Show moreWith this article we contribute to debates on urban land governance and sustainable urban development in Africa by providing an empirical analysis of forced displacement and resettlement associated with infrastructure development in Beira city, Mozambique. In recent years Beira has become the recipient of numerous investment flows targeting the built environment by a range of international investors. By analyzing the micropolitical engagements associated with three different infrastructure projects, based on extensive qualitative interviews, observations, and document analysis, we demonstrate how each intervention has been associated with highly informal and divergent processes of forced displacement and resettlement. We argue that these land related impacts have been annexed from debates on sustainable infrastructure development, and that they exhibit some fundamental differences from established resettlement research. We conclude by arguing that forced displacement and resettlement should be understood as a deliberate and systematic feature of urban infrastructure development, through which new social-spatial arrangements are created. This ultimately points to the emergence of a novel mode of fragmented urbanism within the context of urban development in Africa which poses new challenges to urban sustainability. Show less
This thesis investigates the grammar of Makhuwa-Enahara, a Bantu language spoken in the north of Mozambique. The information structure is an influential factor in this language, determining the... Show moreThis thesis investigates the grammar of Makhuwa-Enahara, a Bantu language spoken in the north of Mozambique. The information structure is an influential factor in this language, determining the word order and the use of special conjugations known as conjoint and disjoint verb forms. The thesis consists of two parts. The first part is a grammatical description of the language, covering the basic properties in the phonology, prosody and morphology of the nominal and verbal domain, as well as an overview of the conjugational system. The chapter also examines some syntactic issues, such as relativisation and non-verbal predication. The second part is concerned with the question how syntax and information structure interact in Makhuwa-Enahara. The elements in a sentence are positioned before or after the verb on the basis of their information structure. Elements in the preverbal domain are interpreted as more accessible, functioning as topics. The disjoint verb and elements in the postverbal domain form the comment. The element immediately following the conjoint verb form is interpreted not just as new information, but as exclusive, meaning that the proposition holds for that referent and not for (some) other referents. These data can be accounted for if insights from syntax and information structure are combined. Two such approaches are discussed: a cartographic model and an interface model. Two interface rules are proposed to account for the interpretation of word order and the conjoint and disjoint verb forms in Makhuwa-Enahara. Show less
Muslim leadership of Northern Mozambique historically has incorporated Islamic authority and chiefship at once. Throughout the colonial period, Muslim chiefs defended their version of Islam against... Show moreMuslim leadership of Northern Mozambique historically has incorporated Islamic authority and chiefship at once. Throughout the colonial period, Muslim chiefs defended their version of Islam against non-local conceptions of Islam, such as Sufism and Wahhabism. After independence the links between chiefship and Islam in northern Mozambique became less visible. This resulted primarily from the policies of the post-colonial government, which saw African chiefship and Islam as two separate spheres. Islam was viewed as an “organized faith” similar to Christianity, while chiefship was understood to represent African “traditional authority.” Show less
Compared to other rural women, a high proportion of female wageworkers in rural Mozambique are divorced, separated or widowed. The paper explores the factors underlying this difference and... Show moreCompared to other rural women, a high proportion of female wageworkers in rural Mozambique are divorced, separated or widowed. The paper explores the factors underlying this difference and establishes a significant relationship between labour market participation and female divorce or widowhood. The association is likely to work in both directions. Moreover, contrastive exploration suggests that divorced/separated women differ from non-divorced women in many other important respects: They tend to get access to better jobs; also, divorced and separated mothers are remarkably good at investing in their daughters' education compared to other mothers and to male respondents. The paper concludes by stressing the limits of regression techniques in teasing out causation and the interactions between variables, and by suggesting that policies to increase female access to decently remunerated wage employment could make a substantial difference to the welfare of very poor rural women in Africa and their children. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
