IDENTITY AND POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN SOUTHERN MOZAMBIQUE, 1930-1974 - 2 PRESBYTERIAN BIOGRAPHIES CONTEXTUALISED

The Swiss Mission's work, particularly in the field of education, cont ributed to the reshaping of identity and political consciousness in so uthern Mozambique, and had a critical influence on youth. Through its programme of informal education, the Mission enhanced young people's c apacity to understand and analyse the world around them, By promoting access to secondary and university education and by preparing an Afric an leadership for the church, the Swiss Mission helped to form an educ ated elite and inadvertently contributed to the emergence of a nationa list leadership, In this article, I focus on the biographies of Sebast iao Mabote and Lina Magaia, two nationalist leaders who grew up as mem bers of the Presbyterian church, joined Frelimo and assumed an importa nt role in Mozambican politics and society after independence. My aim is to explore the multiple identities expressed in their life stories and to show how socialisation into African families, combined with Pre sbyterian education, helped to shape national consciousness in colonia l southern Mozambique.