Nshajo (The Game)
( Nshajo (O Jogo) )

Raquel Schefer
2011 - 8 min - Super 8 mm - Couleur - France

Between 1957 and 1960, Jorge Dias, one of the main figures of Portuguese colonial ethnography and Luso-Tropicalist Movement, conducted 3 field studies in the Macondes Plateau, in Mozambique. The material he gathered would be compiled in the extensive monograph “Os Macondes de Moçambique”.
In 1960, during one of the expeditions, Dias stayed for some days in my family’s house, in Mucojo, where my grandfather was the post administrator.
“Nshajo” articulates the narration of a prosaic episode of Dias’ stay in Mucojo with an attempt of visual reflection on anthropological representation and the processes of empirical observation, imitation, and acculturation. Continuity lines are delineated between systems of representation and paroxysmal imaginaries through the combination of a fake anthropological documentary with familiar archive footage from Mozambique during Portuguese colonialism.