Maputo: Ethnography of a Divided City (Long film version)

Abstract

This film project seeks to visualise one of Africa’s divided cities, and is part of the research project "The Ethnography of a Divided City. Socio-Politics, Poverty and Gender in Maputo, Mozambique" funded by the Norwegian Research Council. While the film relates actively to the research project, it approaches the themes of that project from new and original angles and ANIMA has had full artistic freedom in its filmic approach. A focus on the people inhabiting the city’s so-called bairros (districts/areas) provide a privileged view of the way in which symbolic and material boundaries of various urban spaces are contested, negotiated and, ultimately, inscribed onto mental maps of the city. By May 2017, the film has been shown in a large number of local urban communities, academic conferences, cultural events, TV stations and film festivals.