Mafalala is a popular Mozambican neighbourhood that is located in the outskirts of Maputo city. It is famous due to important events that occurred there and a number of Mozambican political personalities lived or were born in the location, in addition, the neighbourhood assisted the emergence of cultural and political consciousness amongst African people living there. The Mafalala Museum presents Mafalala, as the foundation of its curatorial discourse and looks at the city of Maputo through the periphery. Mafalala Museum is the result of an organic and participatory community process led by the Association IVERCA | Tourism, Culture and Environment (www.iverca.org).

The museum is motivated by the desire to stimulate critical thinking through art and the creation of cultural facilities. Mafalala Museum is a community-based museum that follows the foundations of social museology. Social museology in Mozambique is a very recent concept that society didn’t embrace in its totality. Talking about social museology is to talk about self-knowledge, development and transformation of local communities. Through this new trend, communities were able to create new and own paths reinventing the museum. This reinvention was committed to the construction of a new social practice that privileged individual memories, affirmed community’s values and promoted social transformation. Iverca embraced this theory and built the museum.

Throughout the year, the intergenerational study group has been working on a documentary about Marrabenta. Marrabenta is an urban music genre, very popular in Mozambique and therefore deserving of a documentary that will allow a tracing of its historical trajectory, as well as documenting and preserving it. It does so with strong impetus against the Nationalist appropriation of popular culture and with an aim to engage an intergenerational cohort of voices. The project aimed to better strengthen the connection with the community and through this activity take advantage to create and improve the audiovisual archive and the digitization process of the Mafalala museum.

Study group members

Mrs. Elarne da Silva Caliano former dancer of the Joao Domingos ensemble, which was assigned to the African Association, Sro. Mussa Tembe retired teacher and gymnast, Sr. Rui Laranjeira Curator and Researcher of the Mafalala Museum, Sro. Ivan Laranjeira Director of Mafalala Museum and Curator, Sro. Emanuel Banze Communication Technician, Mrs. Amélia Dimbane Librarian