Ku yakissa: a daily act of resistance by Mahoche´s peasants against the Mozambican State´s shortcomings in realising land rights

Abstract

The contemporary State is, by historical nature, a State oriented towards Public Policies (Costa, 2015). This State is characterised by a complex array of contradictions, with public policies being one of its most striking expressions. The diversity of interests, the unequal distribution of power, and the convenience of the State`s legitimate monopoly on violence can help explain the growth of these contradictions. This article examines the practice of ku yakissa as a form of everyday resistance by the peasants of Mahoche against the structural shortcomings of the Mozambican State regarding the enforcement of land rights. It is based on ethnographic research carried out in the Mahoche neighbourhood in the district of Moamba (Mozambique), as part of a PhD in Rural Development. The study aims to understand how peasants respond to and adapt to the socio-environmental transformations brought about by the expansion of quarries, which directly impact rural populations' access to land. Drawing on the theory of everyday practices (Certeau,2011; Scott,2013), the article argues for the need to understand public policies beyond their formal-legal dimensions and to pay attention of the plural ways in which peasant communities appropriate, rework, and re-signify them- as exemplified by the practice of ku yakissa in Mahoche.