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&...

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.