Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the subtle mediation of difference through household aesthetics to think of the way material cultural forms, in this case decorative plants, cultivate innocuous difference in Mozambique where successful postwar reconciliation has hinged on popular commitment to peace.

Paper long abstract:

In Inhambane, coconut tree ownership is closely tied to land access and constitutes a key feature of the local politics of difference that pits the Bitonga, the local inhabitants, against the Matswa, a neighbouring people who came to the city in the late 1980s in search of refuge from the armed conflict that was devastating the countryside at the time. More subtle, however, but also more telling of the ways in which material cultural forms produce and sustain identities is the way Bitonga use ornamental plants to perform their civilised, urban status and distance themselves from those who "come from the bush". Today, although they rarely intermarry, both groups cohabit in relative harmony, send their children to the same schools, drink in the same bars, do business together and live in similar houses. But only the Bitonga truly devote themselves to the growing of ornamental plants that give their yards distinct aesthetics. In this paper I examine how social and cultural differences are delicately mediated through the caring for and display of decorative plants which have become a key marker of civilised status, to think about the politics of difference in a context where successful postwar reconciliation has hinged on popular commitment to peace. Unlike other forms of performance like oratory skills and proficiency in Portuguese or sartorial elegance which are more explicit markers of difference, gardening preferences are no doubt innocuous and seemingly apolitical, but nonetheless powerful in that they shape sensorial and aesthetics experiences of difference.