The Associação dos Naturais de Moçambique and the spectre of Euro-African nationalism: The crisis of 1960

Abstract

In this study, we focus on the history and functioning of the  Association of Mozambique Natives (ANM). The ANM, an  association dating back to 1935, sought to bring together  European settlers born in Mozambique, presenting itself as  a cultural and recreational association. However,  particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it actively  intervened in political debates. Among the Naturais were  several members of the Democratic Opposition, and  the  structure even played a central role in the growing  autonomist unrest in the colony. Its newspaper, A Voz de  Moçambique, is also analysed. It was a platform for criticism  of certain racist practices, an important element in the  defence of greater administrative autonomy, and its  discourse on economic matters was guided by a  developmentalist approach, which converged with the  interests of the overseas bourgeoisie and its desire to  achieve “economic maturity”. The intersection of these  various sensibilities opposed to the regime culminated in  the crisis of 1960, which we describe in detail as it was a  clear manifestation of the confrontation between a colonial  state loyal and dependent on Lisbon and the autonomist  elements of Mozambique’s white society. Seeking not only  to integrate, but also to make an innovative contribution to settler colonial studies in Portugal, this work analyses and  compares the figure of the progressive settler and the  affirmation of Euro-African nationalism, understood as a  movement of political agitation on the part of the colonising stratum of Mozambican society.