Spatial control in colonial Lunda: Between state policy and a private company’s plans

Abstract

In the late 1960s, António Soares Carneiro, the recently appointed Governor of Lunda, drew up an “expedite development plan” that reorganised what was previously small villages into larger ones. The plan, which covered both rural populations and urban centres, aimed at combating the increasing subversive activities that were threatening that area in north-eastern Angola, already considered to be a “victim” of its 1147 km-long border. In this regard, the construction of infrastructures, such as schools and communication networks, was deemed to be the appropriate way forward to making “security and development compatible”. Nevertheless, Carneiro’s plans came with “a thorn in their side”: the Diamond Company of Angola — Diamang, a private company based in Lunda since the early 20th century and said to be a “state within the state”. Indeed, the enterprise was a “dominant industrial hub” in the region and, therefore, a key player in the transformation of the territory. By this time, it had gathered extensive know-how on social engineering through spatial organisation. As far as population control was concerned, the company did not hesitate to accuse the colonial government of being behind the times. Given these circumstances, the purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to explore the forms of countersubversive plans, both those promoted by the state apparatus and those developed by Diamang. Using urban planning as a key tool, several measures were implemented throughout Lunda to that effect, such as the creation of enquadrantes (former soldiers whose job was to “ensure the success of the new villages”), “propaganda villages” and an extensive network of social facilities (schools, health and care services, and recreational centres). Secondly, this paper also sets out to analyse the interplay between the various countersubversive plans referred to above, as Diamang’s economic perspective was not always in lockstep with the political aims. In this sense, the research seeks to assess the role of private companies in the development of colonial architectures of counterinsurgency.