Creating an Archive of Working Women's Oral Histories in Beira, Mozambique

This paper describes how I overcame a barrier to research on workingwomen in Beira, Mozambique.  When I began my research in the 1980s, I soon learned that there were few documentary sources on my topic.  In an effort to discover the history of women in the city, and in particular the changes they had experienced since the end of Portuguese colonialism and the advent of an independent socialist government in 1975, I interviewed several dozen women: cashew factory workers, garment factory workers, nurses, and market vendors.  I also observed meetings of the women’s organization.  In doing so, I created a new archive of oral testimony that became the basis for my dissertation in 1988, and a key source for later publications about Mozambican women.