Naming practices in the central highlands of Angola (1926-1961)

• Grant number: 14/20326-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: December 10, 2014
• End date: December 09, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Anthropology
• Principal Investigator: Paula Montero
• Grantee: Iracema Hilário Dulley
• Supervisor: Matthew Engelke
• Host Institution: Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento (CEBRAP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 13/13112-1 - Naming and Otherness: the Names of Difference in Angola (1926-1961), BP.PD

Abstract

The candidate's post-doctoral project funded by Fapesp (Nr. 2013/13112-1) aims atunderstanding how the 'others' of colonialism were named and characterized duringthe indigenato regime (1926-1961) in the Central Highlands of Angola. Historicalresearch is based primarily on the archives of the Congregationalist ABCFM (AmericanBoard of Commissioners for Foreign Missions) missions and focuses on the relationshipbetween legal colonial categories of classification-such as indígena (native), cidadão(citizen), and assimilado (assimilated)-and forms of designating oneself and others inUmbundu-such as ocindele (white), ocimbundu (black), and ocimbali (something inbetween the two previous categories). The first year of research has been devoted tounderstanding the indigenato regime and analyzing historical sources as well as to fieldwork inLuanda and Huambo. The latter has focused on the personal names (genealogies) and trajectoriesof inhabitants of the Central Highlands connected to Catholic and Protestant missions.During the one year to be spent at the Department of Anthropology of the LondonSchool of Economics, the candidate will strive to make sense of the relationshipbetween personal names and social position (as understood from the perspective ofboth colonial legislation and Umbundu speakers). Special attention shall be paid to thetransformations in naming patterns related to the trajectories of subjects that appliedfor the status of citizen, especially those who converted to Protestantism. (AU)