Habitat rural em Moçambique. Leituras a partir de estudos e registos dos séculos XIX e XX

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the rural habitat in Mozambique between the 19th and 20th centuries, based on the analysis of architectural surveys carried out in Belane, Vilanculos district. The central objective is to understand the planning and construction methods devised by the communities themselves and that shaped the rural landscape of Mozambique. The analysis method is interdisciplinary, combining elements of architecture, anthropology, ethnography, and territorial planning. It challenges the prevailing approach of considering Mozambican rural habitats as "pre-modern" forms or merely ethnographic objects. The analysis aims to understand the spatial, functional, and symbolic structures of mutis - family housing units. The analysis focuses on mutis - family housing and production units - based on drawings, schemes, and documents created by Casal, Raposo, and Fialho between 1981 and 1985. The study also incorporates ethnographic sources, reports, and scientific literature to enable a comparative and thematic analysis of the cases. The redesign of the original surveys is used here as a methodological and preservation strategy, with the goal of ensuring the continued relevance and a way of getting through the data during the research phase. In this dissertation, the Mozambican rural habitat is a subject of analysis that is valid in its own right. The new readings presented address three main points based on the collected data. Firstly, the domestic space is shown as a territory of social relations. Secondly, the habitat is presented as a process of making in close dialogue with other arts, such as basketry and ceramics. Finally, the territorial dimension of the rural habitat is highlighted. This dissertation aims to revisit the anthropological material collected in the field with a new architectural eye, both to deepen our knowledge of the object of study and to explore contemporary practices. In this context, the muti are more than just empirical expressions of adaptation to the environment. They are also territorial devices that are sustained by social logics of family relationships, local cosmologies, and integrated ecological practices. More than the formal aspects of Muti, knowledge lie in the dimension of its project and ways of doing. These are structured by principles-material, spatial, ecological, and social-that inform more resilient approaches today.