The Portuguese colonial rule in Mozambique created new identities to the Africans. Among them, the "indigenous" category defined certain Africans as primitive with aversion to work. Through this discourse, the colonial rulers sought to justify the "indigenous" labor exploitation. One of the instruments of their domain was the labor penalties used as a means to discipline the colonized peoples. This article analyzes the way the colonial administration discourses and practices were used to define the work as a penalty to be assigned exclusively to the "indigenous" between the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Mozambique; colonialism; work; penalty; indigenous