Ethnography, calamities and war: Mozambique 2000

Abstract

In this article I draw on personal experience to discuss the ways of doing ethnography in a context of crisis. In February 2000, when I started fieldwork for my PhD thesis in the central region of Mozambique, the country was living under a climate of political tension in the wake of the December 1999 general elections. Devastating floods also hit, especially the regions where I intended to carry out fieldwork in the districts of Mossurize and Machaze, Manica province, and in the district of Buzi, Sofala province. In this article I demonstrate that a context of political crisis, social disruption and calamity imposes constraints and important challenges on fieldwork with participant observation.