Abstract

SARAIVA, Tiago. Colonial mimesis and animal reproduction: Karakul sheep in Southwestern Angola. Etnográfica [online]. 2014, vol.18, n.1, pp.209-227. ISSN 0873-6561.

This text explores the connected reproduction stories of Portuguese settlers and karakul sheep in Southwest Angola. It follows the karakul trail from South West Africa (SWA) under German occupation into the desert of ­Moçâmedes, making use of mimesis as a concept to understand colonial practices in the Third Portuguese Empire. The Karakul Experiment Station (Posto Experimental do Caracul) founded in 1948 is taken as a site for testing such practices through its combination of experiments on sheep artificial insemination as well as on colonial sociabilities. The layout of the Station, with laboratories side by side with an “indigenous village” that replicated a Kuvale onganda, was the first materialization of the new colonial society to emerge out of karakul production. The appropriation by Gilberto Freyre of karakul as embodiment of luso-tropicalism makes these sheep good things to think with in inquires on the nature of Portuguese colonialism.

Keywords : karakul; Southwest Angola; Gilberto Freyre; mimesis; Kuvale; settlers.

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