Mozambique Portfolio

Click icon to add picture• Portfolio consists of Ben’s students’ responses to a questionnaire.

•Ben also interviewed two students and wrote about their lives

Most students speak two languages fluently: Portuguese and Emacua (the language of the Makonde, the majority ethnic group of Northern Mozambique).

Some students also speak Emaconde, Kimuani, and Kiswahili (these are other local languages, mostly from ethnic groups to the North of Chiúre).

What languages do you speak?

Largest ethnic group in Northern Mozambique and Tanzania - almost 1,500,000 people

Did not make contact with Europeans until the 1920’s

Economy – slash and burn agriculture/hunting

Matrilineal society – children and inheritances belong to women, men move into their wife’s village once married

The Mackonde People

Known for their sculptures of tribal spirits and ancestors made out of ebony wood

Sculptures depict “little devils” who take on my forms with exagerated features

Other sculptures depict the “mother” of the Makonde people who was sculpted out of wood and protects them

The Makonde People continued

Nearly all students listen to “Romanticas,” which are pop love songs from Mozambique or Brazil.

Local Mozambican music that students enjoy: Marrabenta, Passada, and Kuduro

American pop music is very popular here, with the most listened-to artists being Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias, and Michael Jackson.

What type of music do you like to listen to?

Mabula – Marrabenta/Rap Group

Traditional dances that students know are Tufo, Soqueia, Kuajala, Espada, Massuigu, and Mapiko

Mapiko – initiation dance for men and women in which unmarried men and women symbollicaly face their fear of the “Mapiko”, a masked dancer who represents evil

What dances do you know?

The most common meal by is xima (cooked meal or grain paste typically from pounded corn, cassava, or millet) with matapa (cooked green leaves)

Beans and dried fish are other common foods. Meat, rice, and pasta are luxury foods only accessible to families with more money.

What type of food do you eat at home?

Men wear long pants (always a dark, neutral color) and a shirt (button-down or t-shirt).

Women wear a blouse or shirt with a capulana around their waist and lenço (head wrap/scarf made from a cut capulana).

Nearly everyone wears sandals or flip-flops, unless they are required at work to wear shoes.

Students are technically required to wear shoes, but many do not. Not everyone has the money to buy shoes. All students do wear school uniforms to school.

Describe the style of dress of your culture.

With what frequency do you see your extended family? Are they important in your life?Many families live in clusters of several

houses (for example 3 or 4 rectangular huts in a circle), with all the extended family members living together.

Many students mention that relatives are especially important because they often are the ones that fund the students’ education (when your uncle is the only person in your family who has a salaried job, his income supports everyone else in the extended

The most important ceremonies are boy and girl initiation rites (when children, after puberty, receive the oral traditions and wisdom from their elders and are officially recognized by the community as adults),

Birthdays, funerals, national holidays, and the Town-Day of Chiúre (celebrating the anniversary of when Chiúre was incorporated as a town 21 years ago).Family Day – April 26th

Women’s Day – April 7th

Heroes Day – February 3rdWorker’s Day – May 1st

What holidays and ceremonies are important to your family?

When two people meet, the common greetings are (said in Portuguese): “Good morning. Did you wake up well today?” or “Good afternoon. How is your health? How is your family?”

Two men meeting each other for the first time will shake each other’s hand, while the initial greeting between a man and a woman or between two women is to kiss each other once on each cheek (first right, then left) and say “Prazer” (“It’s a pleasure”).

Describe common greetings between people in your culture.

Common responses are: doctor, nurse, engineer, and teacher.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Some of the students’ responses: Family – my parents – my teachers – education – patience – “love and respect: love myself, respect myself, and love and respect others.”

Mention something very important in your life.

“There are great differences.” “Americans live well.” “Americans help the Mozambican people by

sending us teachers and developing our country.”

“In America cars are public. You drive somewhere and get out. Then anyone else can get in and drive off. When you are ready to go somewhere else, you get into the first car you see and drive off.”

“Hip-Hop and Rap.”

What are the opinions and perspectives that you have of Americans or American culture?

“American students should know that my country is poor. In the case of our studies, we do not have the proper systems for [practical, hands-on] learning, and we do not have books for secondary education. For this reason, at times we are weak.”

“Well, I say that it is very important just to study . . . If you know to make the most of education, you can achieve your dreams”

Is there anything else you would like American students to know about your life and culture?