A fresh analysis of the post-colonial war in Mozambique that contributes to debates about conflict, peacebuilding, development and nationalism and offers insights into the nature of contemporary politics and the current conflict. The 1976-1992 civil war which opposed the Government of Frelimo and the Renamo guerrillas (among other actors) is a central event in the history of Mozambique. Aiming to open up a new era of studies of the war, this book re-evaluates this period from a number of different local perspectives in an attempt to better understand the history, complexity and multiple dynamics of the armed conflict. Focusing at local level on either a province or a single village, the authors analyse the conflict as a "total social phenomena" involving all elements of society and impacting on every aspect of life across the country. The chapters examine Frelimo and Renamo as well as private, popular and state militias, the Catholic Church, NGOs and traders. Drawing on previously unexamined sources such as local and provincial state archives, religious archives, the guerrilla's own documentation and interviews, the authors uncoveralternative dimensions of the civil war. The book thus enables a deeper understanding of the conflict and its actors as well as offering an explanatory framework for understanding peacemaking, the nature of contemporary politics,and the current conflict in the country. Eric Morier-Genoud is a Lecturer in African history at Queen's University Belfast; Domingos Manuel do Rosario is Lecturer in electoral sociology and electoral governance at Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique; Michel Cahen is a Senior Researcher at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) at Bordeaux Political Studies Institute and at the Casa de Velazquez in Madrid.
Reviews
The book provides a much-needed overview of the existing literature and new case studies drawing on longterm work and original materials. The analysis of Renamo documents, accounts of surviving villagers, interviews with militiamen, and religious archives, shines light on the spatial and temporal variations of the conflict, restores the agency of actors that had often been ignored or depicted as passive victims, and rehabilitates non-military dimensions of the war. This turns The War Within into the most complete yet synthetic account of the civil war and a necessary read. * AFRICAN STUDIES QUARTERLY *
The War Within is a very well-researched, thought-provoking, well-written, and extremely engaging addition to the body of scholarship on Mozambique's civil war. * THE ROUND TABLE *
The editors have done an excellent job of making the text open to general readers, while also engaging with the primary intended audience: scholars working on Mozambique. * JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN STUDIES *
[...] outstanding contribution. * AFRICAN AFFAIRS *
[...] this volume offers a welcome call for a new way of writing the history of Mozambique's civil war. * Canadian Journal of African Studies *



Book Information
ISBN 9781847011800
Author Eric Morier-Genoud
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint James Currey
Publisher James Currey
Weight(grams) 1g