Abstract
Wars are widely seen as male spaces of action, which silences the presence and action of thousands of women who are directly or indirectly involved in armed conflicts. The purpose of this article is to explore the memories about the presence and role of women in the Mozambican War of Independence, through the biographies, autobiographies, and life stories of those who fought the conflict and who became presidents of the country, in addition to the biography about Josina Muthemba Machel, a character who became an icon for Mozambican women during the Independece War. The methodology starts from the reading of researchers from Oral History who discuss the production and analysis of memory. These analyzes allows us to observe the reaffirmation of male perspectives on war and the reproduction of stereotypes and the inferiorization of the role of the female soldier, which discursively reinforce the exemplarity of Josina Machel, emptying effective female participation, at the same time, the protagonism of women, in different fronts of action, emerges from female voices.
Keywords:
self writing; Mozambique; women; Josina Machel