Estamos Juntos E Misturados! Intercultural Translation Between Mozambican and Brazilian Students

Instead of considering Africa as a region of outbound students, this chapter addresses how students target an African country as their destination. Focusing on the case of Brazilian students in Mozambique, it also nuances discourses of South-South development cooperation, by taking a more personal approach depicting the student residence SELF of the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo as the scene of an ongoing intercultural encounter between Mozambican and Brazilian students. Guided by the Epistemologies of the South (Santos de Sousa 2015), it documents these students’ encounters, addressing how their similarities and differences represent a space for intercultural translation. Focusing on the topic of ‘race’ and racism, the case of these students exemplifies how daily encounters between communities that have been constrained by similar socio-political structures do not simply lead to horizontal exchanges, but rather underscore the nuances and differences between the Latin American and African contexts that nevertheless offer paths to solidarity. The opportunity to appreciate diverse narratives of similar struggles, such as that against racism, encourages various degrees of empathy and support—without leading to one single dominant discourse.