Black Drums, White Ears: Colonialism and the Homogenization of Social and Cultural Practices in Southern Mozambique (1890-1940)

ABSTRACT In this article, I analyse how practices referred to generically in the historical documentation as ‘batuque’ (drums) underwent a process of homogenization and scrutinization by diverse Portuguese colonial agents. On one hand, the colonial agents insisted on unifying everything they saw as dance and music under the generic category of ‘batuque.’ On the other hand, the need for a better understanding of the subordinate Africans ended up producing colonial responses that shifted between a dissection of the term in search of a more accurate apprehension of what was being observed and an incorporation of these practices into the colonial enterprise. This process was conceived by the colonial agents as a way of appropriating the dances, songs and music made by the natives of southern Mozambique into the ultramarine Portuguese nationalist discourse.

摘要 本文分析了历史文献中被统称为"巴图克（batuque，即鼓乐）"的实践活动，如何经历了葡萄牙各类殖民代理人的同质化与细致审视过程。一方面，殖民代理人坚持将所有被其认定为舞蹈与音乐的事物，统一归入"巴图克"这一通用范畴之下；另一方面，出于更精准理解被统治非洲群体的需求，殖民代理人最终形成的应对策略在两种路径间动态切换：或是对该术语进行拆解剖析，以求更准确地认知所观察到的对象；或是将此类实践活动纳入殖民事业体系之中。殖民代理人将这一过程视作将莫桑比克南部原住民创作的舞蹈、歌谣与音乐，纳入葡萄牙海外民族主义话语体系的可行路径。