Resettlement in Mozambique: Development, Displacement and Control in the (Post)Colony

Abstract

Mozambique has a long history of resettling people in urbanizations that are centrally initiated and shaped by development discourses and governments’ desire to control populations. This article places the recent resettlements in the surroundings of extractive projects in the country in a historical context, by comparing the aldeamentos created by the Portuguese colonial administration with the aldeais comunais by FRELIMO after independence. It focuses on successive resettlement initiatives in the Tete province, where mining-induced resettlement has recently received much attention. Despite the disparate political contexts, it demonstrates similarities between the resettlement projects, which have resulted in hardship for the dislocated populations.