Dinâmica das representações sociais da figura de mukuaxi no contexto da não prática do lobolo: o caso do distrito de Marracuene, província de Maputo

Abstract

The present work analyzes the issue of the dynamics of representations of the Mukuaxi figure in the context of the non-practice of lobolo. From the literature analyzed, we identified two approaches, namely: the “generalized” approach and the other of a “sociological” nature. The first approach emphasizes the issue of lobolo as a “traditional practice” recognized in southern Mozambique and the second approach is sociological and defends the issue of the social meaning of lobolo as a culturally and socially established practice. In the limitations, we carried out an ethnographic study in the district of Marracuene and based on the ethnographic material collected for this study, we understood the attribution of the figure of Mukuaxi in the context of not practicing lobolo. As a methodological supposition, we used a qualitative approach and used semi-structured interviews as a data collection technique. As for the theoretical approach, we are based on the theory of social representations by Serges Moscovicci (1961), this theoretical assumption analyzes that cultural practices are socially constructed. This theory became relevant to understand the dynamics of social representations about the non-practice of lobolo and the attribution of the figure of Mukuaxi. The results show that there is a pre-knowledge of the importance of this sociocultural practice, assuming the categorization of the Mukuaxi figure, since it takes place within our own sociocultural context. However, some participants believe in the idea that not practicing lobolo is not oblivious to the lack of financial conditions and lack of pre- knowledge of it as part of our cultural universe. Some point out, above all, the lack of preparation on the part of men associated with decision-making power, a fact that the non-practice of lobolo can subject the attribution of socially constructed categories with a focus to the Mukuaxi. As for the perception of women, we found that they feel themselves rejected and excluded in the context of not practicing lobolo. With the issue raised, we were able to build the argument that the attribution of the Mukuaxi figure is conditioned by the non-practice of lobolo by men because they do not gather financial resources, due to religious factors associated with the Christian imagination in which it is not prohibited the lobolo practice, but some rituals submerged in it, such as the invocation of the ancestors' spirits through the “Ku-phalha” ritual. However, nowadays, God is invoked, a fact that leads this lobolo practice to modernization and requalification