S is for Samora

Category:

Drawing on stories, speeches, documents, and the memories of those who knew Machel well, this biography captures the many facets of a man Nelson Mandela has called “a true African revolutionary.” Machel was trained as a nurse, yet later became a consummate military strategist. He was a farmer’s son, yet possessed the diplomatic skills necessary to negotiate a relationship with China and the Soviet Union while winning over Western leaders like Margaret Thatcher. Machel was a man of the people who at the same time found himself utterly alone. A dedicated seeker of peace, he nevertheless never saw anything but war. This volume takes stock of the discourse of equality, liberty, and comradeship that motivated the liberation struggles of Machel’s people and other southern African communities in the 1960s and 1970s, all in the face of a dominant Cold War rhetoric. It meditates on the different languages through which the Mozambican dream was articulated, including the linguistic currencies of anti-colonialism, anti-racism, and Marxism-Leninism, while exploring the gaps between then and now, between Mozambicans and Western idealists who wanted to be part of Machel’s new society, and between Mozambicans themselves.

Reviews

There are no reviews yet.

Be the first to review “S is for Samora”

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *