Paper short abstract:

Colonialism and post-colonialism have in Angolan societies many things in common. One is the creation and, simultaneously, the of social diversities. The paper focuses on this aspect in the perspecgtive of social resilience.

Paper long abstract:

João Milando

Long-term violence and nation-building processes in Angola:

Social resilience in rural areas

Colonialism and post-colonialism have in Angolan societies many things

in common. One is the creation of social diversities. The great

diversity of ethnic, linguistic, territorial and/or cultural

identities in the country is often regarded as a situation which may

hinder the political project of constructing a broad social/national

identity in Angola. However, locally there are some aspects of this

diversity that apparently favor social cohesion and integration

processes. Another characteristic of both colonialism and

post-colonialism is the negation of the existing diversity followed by

efforts to impose cultural "homogeneity". Apparently this denial of

diversity also favor social integration and cohesion. Sometimes in a

contradictory way, certain situations associated to the post-colonial

war contributed apparently to the configuration of cohesive identity

dynamics favoring the "nation building" process in Angola. This paper

analyses different ways in which post-colonial violence affected

"nation building" processes in Angola at the local level. Different

dimensions and expressions of social resilience and (in some way)

social capital are analyzed in specific social groups of agrarian

societies. Special attention is given to forms of sociability and

social interaction in these social groups.