This book examines the internal politics of the war that divided Angola for more than a quarter-century after independence. In contrast to earlier studies, its emphasis is on Angolan people's relationship to the rival political forces that prevented the development of a united nation. Pearce's argument is based on original interviews with farmers and town dwellers, soldiers and politicians in Central Angola. He uses these to examine the ideologies about nation and state that elites deployed in pursuit of hegemony, and traces how people responded to these efforts at politicisation. The material presented here demonstrates the power of the ideas of state and nation in shaping perceptions of self-interest and determining political loyalty. Yet the book also shows how political allegiances could and did change in response to the experience of military force. In so doing, it brings the Angolan case to the centre of debates on conflict in post-colonial Africa.
Author(s): Justin Pearce
Series: African Studies
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2015
Language: English
Pages: 184
Cover
Half-title
Series information
Title page
Copyright information
Dedication
Table of contents
A Note on Anonymous Sources
Acknowledgements
Introduction:
The Angolan Case in Context
Angola and the Nature of Political Belonging
Imagining the State
The Problem of Identity
Sources and Method
Where, What and When
1 Anti-Colonial Mobilisation and the Portuguese Exodus
Colonial Rule, Nationalism and Resistance
The Portuguese Coup
Angola after the Coup
2 UNITA 1975–1976: From the Cities to the ‘Long March’
Departure from Huambo and the ‘Long March’
3 The MPLA and Urban State Making
Mass Organisations and Political Education
Military Conscription
4 Migration, Relocation and Identity
Conclusion
5 UNITA in the Central Highlands, 1976–1991
Political Education at the Bases
Conclusion
6 UNITA at Jamba
Political Education at Jamba
Social Organisation and Rule by Fear
Military Conscription
Foreign Connections and Imported Ideologies
Conclusion
7 The War of the Cities
Huambo
Kuito
Conclusion
8 UNITA’s Last Redoubts
The Mission
The Villages
Flight and Surrender
Conclusion
9 The Luena Agreement and Politics Today
Conclusion
Index
