Shaping Social Change with Music in Maputo, Mozambique

Abstract

In Mozambique, development programmes have traditionally drawn on music as a means to promote social transformation by educating citizens on key social development issues. Shifting the focus from music as a teaching medium to music as a rich source of information can provide vital insights into public opinion and political ideas, and significantly impact the development of citizen engagement projects. Maximum gains for development and civil society agencies can be achieved by mainstreaming gender into mutual learning activities between singers, audiences, and academics.

Understanding accountability in practice: Obligations, scrutiny, and consequences

“…Based on this analysis process I draw illustrations from the findings of 10 of the A4EA research projects in the sections that follow, half of which were multi‐country studies, all of which were undertaken in the four programme focus countries. These include: a longitudinal panel survey on everyday governance interactions between people and authorities in conflict‐affected sub‐national areas in Mozambique, Myanmar, and Pakistan (Barnes et al, 2021; Chaimite et al, 2021; Loureiro et al, 2021; Myanmar research team, 2021a, 2021b; Posse et al, 2022; Wazir et al, 2022), qualitative studies of protest politics and popular mobilizations (Aina et al, 2019; Hossain et al, 2018, 2021; Javed et al, 2021; Khan et al, 2021; Khan & Taela, 2022), studies of initiatives sponsored by development donors (Anderson et al, 2019, 2020; Aremu, 2022; Awortwi & Nuvunga, 2019; Khan & Qidwai, 2021), an exploration of the accountability politics of Commissions of Inquiry in Nigeria (Oosterom et al, 2021), and a study of how popular culture was used to express dissent and to call for accountability in Mozambique (Manhiça et al, 2020; Taela et al, 2021). All of these studies were qualitative, primarily using semi‐structured interviews and focus groups to gain insights into accountability dynamics.…”

Repertoires of citizen action in hybrid settings

“…when examined as a collective body of work, the messages and performances of protest songs can provide understandings of demands for public accountability and political action which expand the repertoire of the limited occasions when citizens' views and actions are expressed in public protests…The lyrics emerge as a vehicle to amplify subdued voices in a context where critique of those in governments can result in reprisals. (Taela et al, 2021, p. 2)…”

“…Much has been written about the use of cultural forms of expression, such as political song, as vehicles for resistance and contention (Márquez, 2017). This was certainly found to be the case in Mozambique, where researchers explored protest songs to provide “alternative understanding of demands for public accountability” (Taela et al, 2021, p. 1). The authors of this study observe that protest song has a long tradition in colonial societies and has long been used as a way to express grievances against the state in more coded forms.…”

“…At key moments, triggered by anger over concrete issues such as the economy, corruption, or police brutality, music can also be used to give visibility to suppressed grievances:

when examined as a collective body of work, the messages and performances of protest songs can provide understandings of demands for public accountability and political action which expand the repertoire of the limited occasions when citizens' views and actions are expressed in public protests…The lyrics emerge as a vehicle to amplify subdued voices in a context where critique of those in governments can result in reprisals. (Taela et al, 2021, p. 2)

While sometimes disguised or deflected away from authorities, and at other times used to amplify grievances, such cultural resistance is also unruly, often used in protests or to incite collective action outside the normal political channels for engagement to “denounce, demand, and mobilise for social and political change” (Taela et al, p. 5).…”