Landscape, Rajah and wax prints: Contemporary archaeologies of India in Mozambique

Abstract

This chapter draws on archival and ethnographic research in southern Mozambique and in the city of Ahmedabad in the state of Gujarat, India, and reflects how the historical influence of India in Mozambique can still be observed today through diverse material and sensorial layers. Focusing on three examples considered as contemporary archaeological remains of a long history of cultural and economic influence, cashew tree plantations, curry powder and the African print textiles named capulanas, in Mozambique, this text establishes how the still living connections between both countries can be simultaneously perceived in two different places and at two different scales - a small village in southern Mozambique and the economic landscape of the Ahmedabad city's textile industry - illuminating the modes by which cultural heritages sustain everyday life.