Clara Torrao Busin

Please tell us about your research project.
With my dissertation project, I am proposing a borderland study of the Tanzanian-Mozambican border between Mikindani (Tanzania) and Palma (Mozambique) from 1870 to 1975. In this period, the region underwent several border changes and was incorporated into different empires/countries. I aim to study this period of intertwined affiliations: a political affiliation to the Sultanate of Zanzibar, and to colonial and independent states, as well as a simultaneous belonging to the cultural, religious and commercial space of the Indian Ocean and local societies. Moreover, the goal of this study is not only to research the questions of borders and belonging but to link those themes to the social structure of these societies. I work in the field of borderland and border studies and apply a trans-imperial approach to deliver a trans-imperial social history of a borderland. As far as sources are concerned, I focus on the archives containing the administrative sources of each entity involved in the development of the region (England, Germany, Mozambique, Portugal & Tanzania), African sources (Ajami & oral history) and missionary sources (the UMCA).

Could you please tell us a bit more about your scholarship/exchange programme?
I am here as the scholarship recipient of the Month (March 2024). It allows me to spend a whole month in Oxford, which is enough time to consult the archival sources kept here and the vast library collection. Being here for a whole month, I also get a little insight into the academic and social life in Oxford.

First impressions of Oxford/the University? 
The first thing that impressed me was the vast book collection the Bodleian Library holds. I found here many books, that I have been looking for since the beginning of my thesis. Although I arrived at the end of the term, I still was able to go to some seminars. They were really interesting, but what surprised me most was that at the end of each seminar, there was an open invitation to everybody to continue the discussions at the local pub. Thus, making it easy to integrate for newcomers like me.