IDENTIDADES: “UM BICHO PAPÃO” PARA AS SOCIEDADES DO NORTE DE MOÇAMBIQUE?

Abstract

Various studies point to ethnic and religious identities as the main catalysts for the violence that plagues the northern region of Mozambique, with its epicentre in Cabo Delgado. From the perspective of studies on cultural contexts and circumstances that situate the formation of identities in the interconnection between cultural and collective memory, as well as history, we seek to find the main historical moments and elements of the region's societies and their contributions to shaping the social relations established there in order to understand more recent events. Using field and archive research and a literature review, it is argued that ethnic and religious identities constitute a complex "scapegoat" if analysed from the perspective of the history of cultural exchanges that have forged the ethnographic chessboard of the region.