Constructing history, culture and inequality : : the Betsileo in the extreme Southern highlands of Madagascar / / Sandra J. T. M. Evers.

• Superior document: African Social Studies Series ; 4
• VerfasserIn: Evers, Sandra,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2002]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2002
• Language: English
• Series: African Social Studies Series ; 4.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

During the early 20th century, a group of ex-slaves established a frontier society in the no-man's-land of the extreme Southern Highlands of Madagascar. First settlers skilfully deployed a fluid set of Malagasy customs to implant a myth of themselves as tompon-tany or "masters of the land". Eventually, they created a land monopoly to reinforce their legitimacy and to exclude later migrants. Some of them were labelled andevo ("slave" or "slave descent"). The tompon-tany prohibited the andevo from owning land, and thereby from having tombs. This book focuses on the plight of the tombless andevo, and how their ascribed impurity and association with infertility, illness, death and misfortune made them an essential part of the tompon-tany world-view.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Notes on the Malagasy language -- Acknowledgements -- Chapter 1: Introduction: Theoretical and Methodological Considerations -- Prologue -- 1.1 Theoretical considerations -- 1.2 Issues of slavery -- Early kingdoms in the Highlands -- The expanding Merina kingdom -- Conclusion -- 1.3 A brief overview of Madagascar -- An island of migrants -- A failed socialist experiment -- Absolute poverty and the food poor -- Infrastructure -- Conclusion -- 1.4 Methodological considerations -- Living and working in Marovato -- Translation and transcription -- Outline of the book -- Chapter 2: The Construction of Inequality among Migrants -- 2.1 Acquiring free descent status through tombs -- 2.2 The creation of Marovato -- 2.3 Identifying the "Others -- 2.4 Olona madio, "pure" or "clean people -- 2.5 Olona maloto, "impure" or "dirty people -- Chapter 3: Perpetuation of Social Hierarchy through Marriage -- 3.1 Marriage politics of free descent families -- 3.2 Crossing the conceptual boundary -- Chapter 4: The Economics of Social Marginalisation -- 4.1 Land allocation as a political instrument -- 4.2 Using the harvest to enhance social status -- 4.3 Production and consumption -- Chapter 5: Marovato Revisited -- The day of arrival -- 5.1 The mpikarama: changing village demographics -- 5.2 Randriamahalasa: the agent of change -- 5.3 Restricting access to the ruling tompon-tany group -- Tomb group association and land division -- Status attribution: tompon-tany, mpiavy, mpikarama -- How mpikarama become mpiavy -- 5.4 Economic influence of the mpikarama -- Land use -- Cultivation -- Livestock -- Prices of staple food products in 1996 -- 5.5 Payment system of the mpikarama -- Chapter 6: The Fate of the Andevo -- 6.1 Andevo households -- 6.2 Mixed couples -- 6.3 A brief comparative overview of 1992 and 1996.

6.4 The methodological implications of the andevo stories -- Chapter 7: The Process of "Ancestralisation": Tombs, Funerals and the Hereafter of Free Descent People -- 7.1 Concepts explained -- Aina, hasina, hery: all that lives needs hasina -- Hasina as source of social prestige and political power -- Hasina preservation -- Fanahy and the ambiroa -- 7.2 Physical description of the tombs -- 7.3 How a tompon-tany becomes an ancestor -- Funeral: Pre-burial events -- The world of the hereafter -- The burial -- Toets'ambiroa, the ritual of separation -- Fiefana, completion of the funeral -- 7.4 How a migrant (mpiavy) becomes an ancestor -- Funeral: Pre-burial events -- The burial -- Chapter 8: Burial Practices of the Tombless -- 8.1 Andevo funerals -- Soanirina's burial -- Why do the andevo not perform the rituals associated with the process of "ancestralisation"? -- What would you do if you had a tomb? -- 8.2 Harnessing the forces of evil in day-to-day life:poisoning, sorcery, witchcraft -- (i) Fanomezana poizina (actual poisoning) -- Who poisons and why? -- How is the decision taken to poison somebody? -- Who administers the poison? -- What happens after somebody has been poisoned? -- (ii) Fanaforfy gasy ("Malagasy medicine" orsorcery) -- Cases of sorcery -- The role of sorcery -- (iii) Mosavy (witchcraft) -- Who are seen as potential witches and why? -- How witches operate: two case studies -- What do witches represent and why are people afraid of them? -- Chapter 9: The Theory of "Andevoness -- 9.1 Past manifestations of "andevoness -- Household slaves in Imerina -- Imerina slaves had no descent groups, ancestors or history -- The "impurity" of slaves -- The abolition of slavery -- 9.2 Current manifestations of "andevoness -- Features of "andevoness" in Merina society -- 9.3 The Marovato memory of the past.

Chapter 10: Conclusions and Comparative Theoretical Analyses -- 10.1 Marovato and frontier society theory -- The production of frontiersmen -- Movement in groups -- The institutional vacuum -- Pre-existing social models -- Adherents as kinsmen -- Adherents as subjects -- Firstcomers and latecomers -- Patrimonialism -- 10.2 Memory as cornerstone for the future: tombs, ancestors and kinship -- Bibliography -- Appendices -- Glossary -- Informants Index -- Marovato Map 1992 -- Marovato Map 1996 -- Description of the "Purification" Ritual -- Index.