Art and disarmament: turning arms into ploughshares in Mozambique

Abstract

Following the Renamo/Frelimo conflict and the 1992 Rome Accord ending hostilities, the Christian Council of Mozambique undertook to remove arms from the civilian population by trading them for development tools. The weapons were given to artists associated with a collective in the capital, Maputo. The weapons were cut into pieces and converted to sculptures that subsequently focused international attention on the Tools for Arms project, or TAE (Transformação de Armas em Enxadas). While succeeding in drawing attention to the proliferation of arms among civilians, and collecting a considerable number of arms and munitions, the project encountered difficulties in relating the production of art to the overall initiative. This paper examines the aspect of the project that produced art from weapons, with insights and observations based on fieldwork conducted for CUSO and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Notes

1. CUSO (originally known as Canadian University Services Overseas) is a Canadian NGO that sends ‘volunteers’—known as cooperants—to work with partner organisations addressing issues of social justice and working for sustainable alternatives to conventional forms of development. Its strength is its relationship with NGOs in the South and its role in supporting the development of this aspect of civil society. It has had a presence in Mozambique since 1978.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Frank James Tester

Frank Tester teaches social and international development studies in the School of Social Work at the University of British Columbia, and has worked internationally for many years—in Africa, Latin America, and the South Pacific—with a number of Canadian NGOs, including CUSO. He has also published extensively on the history of colonial relations of ruling in the Canadian eastern Arctic.