Football and colonialism, domination and appropriation: the Mozambique case

Abstract

This article deals with the relationship between football and colonialism, examining the period when Mozambique was a Portuguese colony. An analysis of a glossary of local terms (in the Ronga language of the South of the country) is used to examine the tension between the mechanisms whereby the sport was introduced and its appropriation by the local people. The glossary describes game situations and was compiled in a journal article by the poet José Craveirinha in 1955.