Book review of A invenção do assimilado. Paradoxos do colonialismo em Moçambique

Abstract

The theme of colonialism and its associated paradoxes still influence the dynamics of several former Portuguese colonies, almost 50 years since their independence. The same phenomenon can also be found in the former colonial powers. This is inevitable, suggests Roberto Vecchi (2018), affirming that the colonial past can always be problematic and should never be considered to have lost its contemporary relevance. The power of the associated ideologies and their reuse can profoundly change, or even invert, the ways in which they are evoked. In the case of Mozambique, which declared independence on June 25, 1975, Lorenzo Macagno states that “the colonial paradox continues to challenge us, under the most varied guises and grammars”, in the beginning of his book A invenção do assimilado. Paradoxos do Colonialismo em Moçambique (The invention of assimilated. Paradoxes of Colonialism in Mozambique). He tries to answer the question: “in what real or imagined battleground, does its persistent contemporary relevance and resilience reside?” (p. 14)...