Boundaries and Belonging in Portuguese Angola, c. 1880-1910

264 Pages·2017·2.84 MB·English

Vagabond States:
Boundaries and Belonging in Portuguese Angola, c. 1880-1910

by

Shana Melnysyn

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
(Anthropology and History)
in the University of Michigan
2017

Doctoral Committee:

Professor Nancy Hunt (chair)
Professor Adam Ashforth
Professor Kelly Askew
Professor Paul Johnson
Professor Anne Pitcher
Shana Melnysyn
[email protected]

ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8880-6102
Acknowledgements
This research would not have been possible without generous financial assistance from the
University of Michigan and outside agencies. Ethnographic and archival research in Angola,
Portugal, and Canada was funded by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad
fellowship in 2013. Earlier research trips received support from the International Institute
Fulbright Supplement Grant in 2011, the Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, the
African Studies Center, Rackham Graduate School, and the Interdepartmental Program in
Anthropology and History. A large portion of this dissertation was written while I was a graduate
fellow at the Institute for the Humanities in 2015-16.

Before I went to Angola for the first time in 2008, I had lots of questions. Marissa Moorman,
Betty Rodriguez-Feo, Todd Cleveland, and Filipe Calvão gave me loads of helpful contacts and
information before my trip. In Luanda in 2008 and 2009, I was welcomed and generously fed
and sheltered by the loveliest family of women—Lúcia, Nádia, and Indira Costa. Luis Pedro
Fonesca, Lino Damião, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Zé Luís, and Zé Maria were trusted friends in
Luanda. Staff members from the Development Workshop Angola were helpful and generous in
Luanda and Huambo, lending office space and hosting a conversation about my research. Maria
da Conceição Neto and I shared spirited discussions of central highlands history over coffee, and
I benefitted immensely from the wealth of knowledge accumulated in her extensive publications
and her lifetime of experience in Angola. Fellow doctoral researchers Claudia Gastrow, Aharon
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de Grassi, Faustino Kusoka, Ricardo Cardoso, Vasco Martins, Jon Schubert, and “Max Que
Nada” shared tips, ideas, friends, and great conversations in Angola and elsewhere.

In Huambo, Aurora Macedo took me into her home and became a friend and confidant. Angela
Ferreira brightened every day with her huge smile, and Níria Cristovão brought joy and
companionship. I was so grateful for the wonderful community I encountered in Huambo, which
accepted me with open arms during my months there—Suzana, Fernando, Basile, Francisco,
Tony, Silvia, Albano, Wilker, Sonia, Abdul. Several people were especially helpful with oral
history research around Huambo and Bailundo—Venceslau Cassese of the Huambo Provincial
Museum, João Afonso of the Ministry of Culture, Daniel Casoma, João Elenge, and Liberty
Chiyaka gave long interviews, connected me with others, and proudly shared their views on
Angolan history and politics. In Lisbon, Miguel Reis and Adriana Lopera provided a home and
many good times.

I want to extend thanks to staff at the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino, the Arquivo Histórico
Militar, the Sociedade Geográfica de Lisboa, Torre do Tombo, and the Biblioteca Nacional in
Lisbon; at the Arquivo Histórico de Angola in Luanda; at the Biblioteca Municipal do Huambo
in Huambo; at the British Museum in London; and at the United Church of Canada Archives in
Toronto.

The best part about this past decade has been the people I have met in my travels and at U of M.
In the early years, Ilana Rein, Craig Colligan and their lovely boys were my adopted family on
Ann Arbor’s West Side. Elana Resnick has been a solid, cherished friend, even when she
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disappears to Bulgaria for years on end. Perry Sherouse was my roommate and close confidant
for three years of coursework, and our friendship shaped my experience of graduate school. New
friends are always arriving in Ann Arbor, and during my post-field years Zehra Hashmi has been
a constant nurturing presence. Heidi Frankenhauser shares my birthday and she came back from
the west coast, thank goodness, bringing a baby and lots of nice dinners. Bruno Renero-
Hannan—this is for you, my dear old friend. It’s your turn now.

Over the years at Michigan I benefited from the kind and sage mentorship of many faculty and
staff. Mentors in teaching, professionalization, and administration included Jesse Hofnung-
Garskof, Juan Cole, Deborah Keller-Cohen, and John Godfrey. Alaina Lemon has been a role
model since the beginning, and has more recently been a karaoke inspiration. I feel privileged to
have gathered a group of five brilliant, accomplished, and profoundly humane professors for my
dissertation committee. Kelly Askew was a strong support from the beginning, always lending
her careful and ethical perspective to critiques of writing and ideas. Paul Johnson always had a
way of repeating your own ideas back to you in an infinitely more sophisticated and artful form;
his warmth always created a space to dig up the better angels of my academic nature. Adam
Ashforth’s arrival at U of M was an immediate delight for the Africanist community, and he’s
dropped much knowledge over many beers during these years; I always felt things would be fine
after talking to Adam.

Anne Pitcher effectively served as co-chair on this dissertation, even if the paperwork doesn’t
show it. Over the years we shared intellectual and emotional discussions about Angola, coming
together at conferences in Oxford and Paris to share work and community with our wider
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network of Angola colleagues. During the last few months of revisions, Anne was incredibly
generous, swift, and encouraging in commenting on my work. Her ability to target the meat and
bones of what the work offered and where it needed structure surely made it possible for me to
finish.

Finally, Nancy Rose Hunt has ushered this dissertation through its many, sometimes tortured,
stages. Her intellectual and writerly prowess drew me to choose her as my chair; I soon learned
how valuable was her thoughtful, complex, often exceedingly thick feedback and her fierce
support. Nancy always pushed my writing and thinking to its utter limits and made it the best it
could be. She reminded me to embrace the creative and aesthetic elements of academic work
when the technicalities and obstacles threatened to bog me down. I like to think of her making up
for years of gray Michigan winters now, in the Florida sun.

Finally, thank you to my beautiful family for cheering me on even when they didn’t quite
understand the ins and outs of this long, arduous process. I love you all.

Thank you!!!

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements ii

List of Figures vii

List of Illustrations viii

Glossary ix

Abstract xi

Introduction 1

Chapter One
Vagabond States 38

Chapter Two
Caravan Trade and Fluid Categories 65

Chapter Three
“A Just Vengeance:” Mediation, Authority, and a Murdered Luso-African Trader 107

Chapter Four
The Mbailundu Revolt: Violence, Boundaries, and Mutu-ya-Kavela’s Moral Outrage 128

Chapter Five
A War Camp, A Missionary Trial, and Colonial Anxieties 173

Chapter Six
Mbailundu Remembered: Politics and Historical Memory in 2013 212

Conclusion
The end of vagabond states 231

Bibliography 240

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List of Figures

Figure 1. Ethnic Groups in Angola 22
Figure 2. Map of Central Highlands 68
Figure 3. Map of Novo Redondo 108
Figure 4. Routes of military columns sent to crush Mbailundu Revolt 134

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List of Illustrations

Illustration 1. Rock formation at Candumbo, near Huambo 7
Illustration 2. Carriers with Tipoias, Benguela 78
Illustration 3. An Ambaca Gentleman 81
Illustration 4. Empacaceiro of Quissama 86
Illustration 5. Portrait of an indigenous person from Bailundo (c. 1880s-1890s) 89
Illustration 6. “Three Native Dudes” (c. 1895-96) 91
Illustration 7. Lieutenant Augusto Albano Pais Brandão 159
Illustration 8. ABCFM and CCFMS Missionaries, June 1901 176
Illustration 9. Officials from the Bimbe Campaign, 1904 197
Illustration 10. Rusted Soviet tank near Bailundo, 2013 213
Illustration 11. Soba Ekuikui V, outside Mbailundu ombala, 2013 218
Illustration 12. Statue of Ekuikui II, Bailundo, 2013 220
Illustration 13. Natural Stone Fortress at Candumbo, 2013 227
Illustration 14. Obelisk on top of Pedras Candumbo, 1949 230
Illustration 15. Memorial to the Heroes of Candumbo, 2009 230

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Glossary

ABCFM American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, the missionary
society of American and Canadian Congregationalists, which established a
strong presence in the central highlands from 1881 until the 1960s, when
Portuguese authorities began to force them out on suspicion of aiding
nationalist movements.

Assimilado Literally “assimilated.” A category of Africans in the Portuguese colonies
who had learned to speak Portuguese and practiced Catholicism. Under
the New State (after 1923) it would become an official category of
citizenship for Africans under Portuguese rule.

Capitão-Mór Captain Major. Colonial military authorities stationed throughout Angola
at forts. Angola was divided into captaincies, and each was headed by a
capitão-mór.

Degredado Exiled convict sent from the metropole to Angola.

Empacaceiro African mercenaries employed by Portuguese authorities as early as the
17th century to protect caravans, patrol border regions, transport slaves,
carry written correspondence, and put down rebellions.

Funante A type of itinerant trader operating in the interior of the Angolan territory,
could be applied both white and black traders who conducted business on
behalf of more powerful interests or trading houses at the coast.

Gentio “Gentiles,” the Portuguese word used to refer to “unassimilated” Africans
living under the authority of local rulers.

Ladino Usually associated with Latin America, this term referred to slaves that
were “seasoned,” meaning they spoke at least some Spanish (or
Portuguese) and were relatively familiar with European customs. It
sometimes appears in the Angolan documents to refer to Africans who
were close to or familiar with European customs.

Macota An Umbundu advisor to the paramount chief or king (soba).

Mestiço/Mulato A person of mixed African and European descent.
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