Post-war memories in southern Angola: experiences and reconstruction of everyday life

Abstract

In this article I will emphasize the presence of the past war as a critical event in the trajectory of some urban residents in Cunene , southern of Angola. It will be described general historical aspects of the region to comprehend the ontext of episodes of violence that marked the territory. After that, it will be analyze how the State itself chooses an unorthodox monument as a symbol of the destruction caused by the war, making itself as an image of State for peace. In the following sections, it will be present trajectories and perceptions of people who experienced the war in different intensities and rework daily ways of being in the world. The act of announcing phrases like “I saw only one episode of war" ; " I will be waiting for my my husband "; or receive financial and emotional help from a "interested friendship "; or work on a mobile basis and not always paid ; these are all ways that go beyond the place of trauma and represents the daily adaptation to the possibilities in that context.