Autodeterminação em Moçambique: Joana Semião, entre a história oficial e as memórias de luta

Abstract

Any history presented as the official narrative of the national project is largely the history of a particular group of human beings and of their political actions and choices; such a narrative entails several episodes of silencing and omissions which remain alive in the memory of those who cannot forget. This chapter seeks to bring to the debate collective memories that attempt to (re) compose the history of the end of the Portuguese colonial administration in Mozambique. At the center of this analysis is a less remembered political figure involved in the struggle for autonomy and self-determination in the country, Joana Semião. By "opening" history to debate, this chapter, by mapping the organizations and individuals who participated in the political struggle against colonialism, reveals a much wider interconnected web of national and transnational histories and political projects, many of which have been neglected by official history. Thus, the chapter proposes to contribute to the democratization of history, an essential condition to claim cognitive justice.