Karingana Wa Karingana

Abstract

In the Ronga language of Mozambique, the expression Karingana Wa Karingana invokes a very specific oral practice in which the readers are called to listen to the stories about to be told. Hence this tradition of storytelling around the fire, which brings together the eldest and the youngest to share knowledge and ensure its propagation from one generation to the other, directs the participants to a common and shared knowledge of memory, approximating them to a recognizable reality and experience and, therefore, allowing them to imagine themselves as a community. In this sense, memory emerges as a privileged place for reflection on history and on what constitutes the collective imaginary through which the community will project itself. As elements that incorporate a sense of continuity and enable the consolidation of a common identity, heroic figures emerge as important constitutors of national identity.

O nacionalismo recorre à tradição como um elemento que transcende a vida dos indivíduos. No entanto, o nacionalismo também envolve um contínuo processo dinâmico em que os símbolos são constantemente recriados, e novos significados são atribuídos a eles, conforme as mutâveis circunstâncias através das quais a vida da comunidade se desenvolve. (Nationalism resorts to tradition as a way of transcending the lives of individuals. Nonetheless, nationalism also entails a continuous dynamic process in which symbols are constantly being recreated and new meanings are attributed to them, according to the changing circumstances in which the life of the community develops.)

—Montserrat Guibernau, Nacionalismos¹