Browsing by Author "Matose Frank"

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    Living with Mount Mabo: povoados, land, and nature conservation in contemporary Mozambique
    (2021) Matusse, Anselmo; Green, Lesley; Matose Frank
    Based on ethnographic fieldwork in the povoados of Nvava and Nangaze, in the district of Lugela, Zambézia Province, central Mozambique, consisted of field visits that started in June 2016 and ended in April 2018, this thesis is an ethnography of the relationships between people, spirits, animals and landscapes. It examines the cultural, scientific, ethical, and economic stakes of local modes of relating to Mount Mabo, the River Múgue and Mount Muriba that both abide by and surpass the exclusionary forms of science, nature conservation and governance that dominate environmentalism in Mozambique. Focusing on narratives and practices, the study explores concepts such as person, nature and time as mobilized by the state, conservationists and local residents, and describe the respective emerging worlds and their messy interconnections, namely, the conservationists' "Google Forest" premised on techno-science and modernist ideals and seeking to enact a divide between nature and society, the "Neo-extractive" version of landscapes promoted by the Frelimo-run state in its attempt to generate wealth and alleviate poverty also premised on techno-science and modernist ideals that construct nature as a natural resource and "public good" to be owned through DUATs (land use rights certificates) that only the state can grant or revoke; and finally, the "Secret Mount Mabo" as experienced and expressed by local residents whereby landscapes emerge as relational entities demanding ori'a (respect) from the humans with whom they engage in a relation of mutual belonging. In this world, the amwene emerge as the ones who control access to the mountain and forest through their ritual and spiritual power. The study finds that reframing of colonial and neoliberal notions of property, nature, labour and citizenry by conservationists and the state, underlies their technoscientific approaches seeking to protect nature from devastation and impose and their respective versions of nature, human and time—worlds—on local residents. That approach renders dialogues across ontologies extremely difficult. Working with local residents' concepts and practices the study proposes that Mount Mabo conservation efforts are at odds with local ontologies. While these are central to local residents and their practices of world-making, such ontologies occupy a marginal role in conservation project planning, design, and implementation, amid conservationists' attempts to mobilize local residents' alliance in nature protection. These observations draw from and reinterpret contemporary scholarship on political ecology, political ontology, Africanist thought, and decolonial theory, in that they account for different ecological practices and concepts that are linked to practices of wealth redistribution, recognition of other non-modernist ontologies and their colonial legacies. The study proposes that understanding and accounting for these differences and the ways they are made to endure or resisted could help in finding alternatives conducive to ensuring both ecological and local residents' wellbeing in ways that advance decoloniality in Mozambique.
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    Survival strategies among informal economy businesses: the case of small maize millers in Zambia
    (2024) Mwango, Mutale; Chitonge, Horman; Matose Frank
    This study explores whether the informal sector survives in a competitive environment. It focuses on informal maize millers in an industry dominated by large-scale milling firms. The study was guided by a mixed methodology for data collection and analysis. This entailed the use of a case study design which facilitated the use of detailed, multi-faceted investigations of intricate issues in their real-life settings. Specifically, a customer survey and interviews with policy experts, informal millers, activists, and participant observations were used to collect data on the practices of informal maize millers' survival in a competitive environment. Primary data were complemented by use of secondary sources, which included various documents from the public sector, civil society and international organisations in the quest to have a deeper understanding of the informal sector. Present studies about informal maize millers in Zambia provide limited attention to understanding practices of informal sector establishments. This study used the structuralist theory to explain how informal maize millers operate in a competitive environment. Structural theory focuses on the patterns of relationships among social actors. The structuralist theory is used to understand the connection that occurs between formal and informal sector activities because it takes the informal sector as being connected to the formal sector. The study applied the structuralist theories to the informal milling sector in Zambia by demonstrating interlinkages between large formal firms and market needs through servicing the needs of impoverished consumers in townships who depend on such firms and by supplying niche products to state institutions and supermarkets that were not supplied by large firms. The study identified and discussed different factors which enable informal millers to survive the competition from big commercial milling companies. The study also found that informal maize millers cater for different categories of customers including low, middle- and high-income customers. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by making an empirical contribution to understanding the survival of informal maize millers in an industry dominated by large-scale milling firms. Furthermore, from the insights, the study also develops a framework for survival and competitiveness showing pathways for informal maize millers. The study makes the argument that informal maize millers survive competition by adopting various survival strategies, such as choosing to remain informal, diversifying the maize products, and offering lower prices for maize meal.