Paper short abstract:

The debate over gender and women throughout Mozambique's nationalist war highlights the political contradictions about women's roles in liberation historiography; their voices break away from the invisibility of women's central contributions towards independence behind the frontline.

Paper long abstract:

Any history presented as the official narrative fortifying the national project remains largely the history of a particular group and of their political actions and goals; such narratives entails several episodes of silencing and omissions which remain alive in the memory of those who cannot afford to forget. This is the case of the women's participation in struggles for independence. The debate over gender and women throughout Mozambique's nationalist war highlights the political contradictions about women's roles in liberation historiography. On one hand, the armed struggle depended on women transporting arms, gathering information about the enemy, provisioning FRELIMO's forces and ensuring the support of local communities to sustain grassroots health and education campaigns. On the other hand, dominant texts suggest the role of women in the frontline was severely curtailed to provide tradition-bound supportive roles for the cause of liberation. However, oral field research tells us a different story. A more nuanced portrait of women and war emerges, showing both contradictions and consistency between the persistent invisibility of women's participation in public consciousness, and their very unacknowledged but central contributions towards independence behind the frontline.