Significando legitimidades na luta anticolonial angolana: O caso Nhyakatolo Chissengo, símbolo feminino da cultura de um povo

Abstract

During the anti-colonial struggle, Portuguese authorities sought to establish collaboration
agreements with traditional leaders of communities located in rural Angola. Many of these leaders, embedded in traditional hierarchical structures, found themselves in a strategic position to mediate between local populations, liberation movements, and Portuguese state institutions. Thus, through a double game, they sought to reconfigure and strengthen their political capital. It was in this context of disputes that, for example, in the province of Moxico, figures such as Queen Nhyakatolo Chissengo were mobilized by the Portuguese administration and military command to raise awareness among sobas, Lundas, and Luenas. The aim, therefore, is to demonstrate that the traditional apparatus and structures cannot be disregarded, as they constitute a field of disputes and negotiations. From a methodological point of view, the analysis focuses, above all, on the examination of documents preserved in the National Defense Archive (ATD), in Lisbon, especially the Overseas sources referring to the period from 1950 to 1975. In this article, without losing sight of the historiographical debate on women and the struggle for independence, seeks to highlight a historical episode that exemplifies a series of arrangements considered subversive and that, directly or indirectly, ensured the presence of Angolan women in the anti-colonial struggle.