The opening paragraph of this dissertation originates from Mozambican writer Mia C outo’s1 famous novel The Last Flight of the Flamingo (O Último Voo do Flamingo in Portuguese original). It plays at the end of Mozambique’s civil war, when the Italian United Nations officer Massimo R isi is sent to the village of Tizangara to investigate the mysterious deaths of local United Nations peacekeepers, who have suddenly been blown up. The local Joaquim is the narrator of the story. He is the visiting stranger’s assistant and translator. In the quoted scene from the beginning of the