Accusation and Legitimacy in the Civil War in Angola

Author(s)

Iracema Dulley ^[1] ; Luísa Tui Sampaio ^[2]

Affiliation

^[1] Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Centro de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Departamento de Ciências Sociais - Brasil

^[2] Universidade Federal de São Carlos. Centro de Ciências Humanas e Sociais. Departamento de Ciências Sociais - Brasil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Vibrant; v. 17, 2020-08-07.

Abstract

Abstract This article analyses the main categories of accusation found in the speeches of leaders from the People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) during the Civil War in Angola (1975-2002). Seeking to understand the entanglements between the global and local dimensions of the conflict, we argue that the accusations made by Agostinho Neto (MPLA), José Eduardo dos Santos (MPLA), and Jonas Savimbi (UNITA) aimed to delegitimize the ‘other’ in the act of claiming legitimacy to occupy the state. This is achieved through the opposition between accusatory categories attributed to the ‘other’ and their inverse, categories attributed to the person making the accusation. We thereby show how the understanding of political conflicts in general, and the conflict in Angola specifically, can be illuminated through the analysis of categories whose linguistic dimension is entangled with historically constituted social positionalities. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 17/23444-2 - Accusation practices in Agostinho Neto, José Eduardo dos Santos and Jonas Savimbi speeches
• Grantee: Luisa Tui Rodrigues Sampaio
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• FAPESP's process: 17/06642-5 - Processes of subject constitution in African contexts: differentiation, iteration, intersectionality
• Grantee: Iracema Hilário Dulley
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants