“We cannot be afraid of other cultures” – Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa

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“We cannot be afraid of other cultures” – Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa

12:40 CAT | 09 Apr 2018

RM (File photo)

“Writing, Inter-Culturality and Citizenship” was the theme chosen by Ungulani Ba Ka Khossa for the lecture held last Friday, at the Lúrio University, UniLúrio, Campus de Marrere, in Nampula.

At a time when the debate about identity and cultural values is of great concern to society, given their impact on the formation of the individual, the renowned writer of works such as ‘Ualalapi’, ‘Orgia dos Loucos’ and ‘Choriro’ challenges society to take a bigger leap, and assume that citizenship is an inalienable right.

Showing his pride and satisfaction of being of “Mozambican blood”, the author of ‘Ualalapi’, spoke of the urgency of recognising the value of local languages, by creating bases for them to be written in.

Ungulani pauses to explain why the Gaza Empire is the focus of his reflections. He says writing about Ngungunhana is justified by the fact that he is a great example of a dictatorship being put to an end by the popular will.

The author of ‘Rei Mocho’ [‘The Owl King’] explains that writing should not be dissociated from oral expression, since orality has a great contribution to make to writing as a source of unique and peculiar narratives.

Ungulani says that Mozambicans are a people of oral tradition, and regrets that the country depends on writing in Portuguese, while Mozambican stories are told in local languages. But he believes that the Portuguese language can only grow when the local Mozambican languages can interpret their different meanings.

Among the points highlighted in Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa’s talk were the fact that he considers citizenship the right of everyone to say no to something unwanted; and, secondly, that many question their identity, letting themselves be ‘oppressed’ by the fear of losing perks.

According to Ungulani, inter-culturality means living among different cultures. Defending the importance of each culture valuing itself and showing itself to the world, he affirms that ‘to be Mozambican is to have a notion of the country’.

Speaking as a linguist, UniLúrio Vice-Rector Marcelino Liphola explained that people thought they were writing in local Mozambican languages, but were deceiving themselves, because they didn’t yet write in such languages because they did not yet have the alphabet to do so. This challenges society to create mechanisms to ensure that the value of local languages was affirmed, efficiently and legally.

Vice-Dean of Academics Sonia Maciel said she considered the lecture to have added value to the academic discourse, and believed that it gave a sound basis for students to examine the roots and origin of Mozambican literature.

Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa is a writer, teacher and Secretary General of the Mozambican Writers’ Association.

Source: Rádio Moçambique