Socialização e segregação racial no período colonial: o caso das cantinas em Lourenço Marques 1906-1930

Abstract

Racial segregation was one of the systems for separating the groups considered civilised (white Europeans) from the uncivilised (indigenous) during the colonial period in Mozambique, and one of the biggest of the major factors was skin colour. Racial segregation took place in official places, such as schools, hospitals, state jobs, etc. But in this paper I intend to demonstrate that segregation also occurred in places of socialisation and leisure in the period 1906-1930 in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), capital of colonial Mozambique from 1 December 1898. December 1898, and the decision was made official on 23 May 1907 (Boletim oficial, n°26, July 1907). My case study will be centred on the canteens that were scattered throughout the city of Lourenço Marques during the colonial period. Canteens were precariously built and not very comfortable spaces that served as places to sell food and have fun exclusively for indigenous people, and sometimes for white settlers who didn't have the financial means to go to the bars located in the urban area, frequented by wealthy white settlers. And with the justification that the Cantinas were spaces that proliferated disorder, interfered with order and with actions that degraded physical morale within the standards stipulated by the colonial system, not to mention the justification of health and sanitation, This was due to the outbreak of bubonic plague in Cape Town, South Africa in 1901 and, finally, the role of the press, which took action to massively and completely remove the canteens from urban areas in 1906 and set them up in outlying areas such as Malanga, Munhuana, Xipamanine, etc. And this segregation was not only imposed on the indigenous, but also affected the Chinese, Indians, mestizos and others. The Cantonese trade was mainly carried out by the Chinese and Indians (Bannanese), sometimes poor European settlers and in some cases Indians. And this mixing of races in the periphery contributed to the emergence of mestizos and mestizo families within the periphery. which would lead to the emergence of great personalities in the fight against colonialism and racism such as José Craveirinha, the Albazine brothers, Noémia de Sousa, etc.). And although the Indians wanted to go to the same places as the settlers, apart from the racial issue, the low salaries and high cost of living were also major factors that made the canteens their only refuge, since the products and services offered there were reasonably priced for the consumption and enjoyment of the Indians and the poor white settlers. It was within the canteens that many activities were promoted that solidified and intensified interracial issues, among which alcohol and prostitution stand out. nitially, the colonial government created laws banning the production, sale and consumption of drinks known as Cafreais/cafres (traditional or home-made drinks) and introduced colonial wine, which became compulsory to sell and consume in Lourenço Marques, but especially in the canteens in outlying areas, and this wine became commonly known as ‘vinho para o preto’ (black wine), highly alcoholic and of poor quality, which was often reported as causing health problems and interfering in social and daily relations in a negative way. Colonial wine was different from the wine and other drinks served in bars in urban areas to white settlers, who were served drinks with a very high quality. They were served drinks of the highest quality, produced under the best conditions to ensure that they would please the palates of the bourgeoisie. This prohibition and differentiation clearly shows that alcohol contributed to the proliferation and solidification of racism, because the alcohol served in bars to whites and in canteens to indigenous people was different. Prostitution was a practice that also served as a key element in solidifying and promoting interracial issues in Lourenço Marques, insofar as the prostitutes who carried out their activities in sophisticated venues in urban areas were different from those found in canteens in peripheral areas. In bars in urban areas, you'd find European women with sophisticated customs and habits who worked exclusively for the European bourgeoisie (settlers), and in canteens you'd find Indian women who worked for Indian men, sometimes for Chinese, Indians, mestizos and Europeans who didn't have the financial means to enjoy such pleasures.

And these exclusive practices of racial segregation in social and leisure spaces were to take on new forms of action with the formalisation of assimilation (which was the process in which Indians enjoyed certain rights and frequented the same spaces as Europeans, both in official and leisure venues, as long as they adopted European culture and habits). This was formalised through the Colonial Act of 1930 and the Organic Charter of the Portuguese colonial empire, approved by Decree-Law 23.228 of 15 November 1933 and the Overseas Administrative Reform, approved by Decree-Law 23.229 of 15 November 1933. From this period onwards, racial segregation became mostly financial and no longer exclusively racial, although there were spaces where even if the indigenous were educated and educated, they were not welcome to occupy the same places as the bourgeoisie (TRADUCAO NOSSA)