(Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers
(Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers:
Capitalism, Science and Empire
in Southern and Central Africa
(Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers

Colonial policies towards cattle pastoralists in Portuguese Angola and Mozambique, 1918-1975

Photo: ©ANTT

(Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers

Colonial policies towards cattle pastoralists in Portuguese Angola and Mozambique, 1918-1975

Paulo Pereira Oliveira Matos

The line of research examines the Portuguese colonial policies towards pastoralist populations in Angola and Mozambique, investigating the strategies used by colonial administrators to transform their way of life and commercial practices, with the aim of transforming pastoralists from allegedly irrational and anti-economic actors (accumulating cattle for prestige and other social purposes) into 'progressive' or 'evolved' farmers and market-oriented entrepreneurs.

The research also examines how pastoralist populations in both sites have responded to such interventions and impositions, by evading and/or resisting the policies, or by accepting and even using them to their advantage. The research analyses these historical processes in both sites, using and developing novel concepts and perspectives derived from global history, particularly that of commodity frontiers, which place African cattle in a global context and show the limits of global circulation histories for understanding global processes.

It is a pioneering comparative study of an under-studied subject within an under-studied colonial empire, revealing whether and to what extent Portuguese cattle policies differed from those of other colonial imperial powers, and highlighting the different perspectives between and within the Portuguese colonies due to different socio-economic, environmental and (geo)political conditions, as well as different regional networks of expertise and inter-imperial learning, influence and political and economic constraints.

Biography

I have a Master's degree in Remote Sensing, from the National Institute for Space Research - INPE/BR (2009), in São José dos Campos/Brazil, and a Master's degree in History, specialising in African History, from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (2023), in Lisbon/Portugal.

Currently, I am a PhD student at the University of Ghent in Belgium, where I am carrying out research as part of the CATTLEFRONTIERS project, funded by the European Research Council. I am researching the colonial policies towards cattle pastoralists in Portuguese Angola and Mozambique and the answers and agencies of the local populations that faced these impositions, from 1918 to 1975.

My main interests are related to the history of Africa, history of Angola, history of Mozambique, historical cartography, and history of commodity frontiers. I also study demographic dynamics, representations of the "other" in historical sources, travel reports, colonial handwritten sources, and regional historical cartography.

Selected publications

  • 'A região ao sul de Benguela na cartografia portuguesa do século XVIII: os mapas de Luís Cândido Cordeiro Pinheiro Furtado (1785-1786)', Manduarisawa, 8, 2024.

  • 'O relato de viagem de Gregório José Mendes (1785) e a tentativa de expansão da presença portuguesa ao sul de Benguela',Horizontes Histórico, 7(2), 72–95 (with Mhamed El Bouzidi).

For a complete list of publications, please visit: ORCID or The University of Ghent website

(Post)Colonial Cattle Frontiers

Please write me on paulo.pereiraoliveiramatos @ ugent.be

Photo: ©ANTT

Colonial policies towards cattle pastoralists in Portuguese Angola and Mozambique, 1918-1975

Photo: ©ANTT

The line of research examines the Portuguese colonial policies towards pastoralist populations in Angola and Mozambique, investigating the strategies used by colonial administrators to transform their way of life and commercial practices, with the aim of transforming pastoralists from allegedly irrational and anti-economic actors (accumulating cattle for prestige and other social purposes) into 'progressive' or 'evolved' farmers and market-oriented entrepreneurs.

The research also examines how pastoralist populations in both sites have responded to such interventions and impositions, by evading and/or resisting the policies, or by accepting and even using them to their advantage. The research analyses these historical processes in both sites, using and developing novel concepts and perspectives derived from global history, particularly that of commodity frontiers, which place African cattle in a global context and show the limits of global circulation histories for understanding global processes.

It is a pioneering comparative study of an under-studied subject within an under-studied colonial empire, revealing whether and to what extent Portuguese cattle policies differed from those of other colonial imperial powers, and highlighting the different perspectives between and within the Portuguese colonies due to different socio-economic, environmental and (geo)political conditions, as well as different regional networks of expertise and inter-imperial learning, influence and political and economic constraints.

Biography

I have a Master's degree in Remote Sensing, from the National Institute for Space Research - INPE/BR (2009), in São José dos Campos/Brazil, and a Master's degree in History, specialising in African History, from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Lisbon (2023), in Lisbon/Portugal.

Currently, I am a PhD student at the University of Ghent in Belgium, where I am carrying out research as part of the CATTLEFRONTIERS project, funded by the European Research Council. I am researching the colonial policies towards cattle pastoralists in Portuguese Angola and Mozambique and the answers and agencies of the local populations that faced these impositions, from 1918 to 1975.

My main interests are related to the history of Africa, history of Angola, history of Mozambique, historical cartography, and history of commodity frontiers. I also study demographic dynamics, representations of the "other" in historical sources, travel reports, colonial handwritten sources, and regional historical cartography.

Selected publications

  • 'A região ao sul de Benguela na cartografia portuguesa do século XVIII: os mapas de Luís Cândido Cordeiro Pinheiro Furtado (1785-1786)', Manduarisawa, 8, 2024.

  • 'O relato de viagem de Gregório José Mendes (1785) e a tentativa de expansão da presença portuguesa ao sul de Benguela',Horizontes Histórico, 7(2), 72–95 (with Mhamed El Bouzidi).

For a complete list of publications, please visit: ORCID or The University of Ghent website

Please write me on paulo.pereiraoliveiramatos @ ugent.be

Photo: ©ANTT