Portuguese Literary And Culural Studies 10 ― On Mozambique

Despite the critical tone of many of the articles in this collection, today's Mozambique has the potential to become a true success story, not as designated by the outside world, but as determined from within. The fact that critical voices are now raised, as much in the rich cultural output of the nation as in the structures of civil society, raises the possibility of a tangible improvement in the lives of ordinary Mozambicans, since every problem must be recognized before a solution can be reached. Chiziane's interrogation of patriarchal practice, Momple's portrayal of corruption and abject poverty, Couto's depiction of senseless violence, refashion our image of Mozambique away from the utopian paradise-in-the-making that it never was towards a more profound questioning of the problems that this very young nation faces. What remains to be seen is whether Mozambique will finally be allowed to determine its own destiny or whether that small window between the fall of communism and the obliterating rise of the hegemony of world trade was too brief to permit a meaningful Mozambican identity to come into being.

PHILLIP ROTHWELL is Professor of Portuguese at Rutgers University. His recent publications include, A Postmodern Nationalist: Truth, Orality and Gender in the Work of Mia Couto (Bucknell, 2004), A Canon of Empty Fathers: Paternity in Portuguese Narrative (Bucknell, 2007), and Sexual/Textual Empires: Gender and Marginality in Lusophone African Literature (Bristol, 2004; edited with Hilary Owen).