SSRC-IDRF Field Research Report 1 of 3 by Jennifer Jackson Department of Anthropology, Yale University October 26, 2003
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SSRC-IDRF Field Research Report 1 of 3 by Jennifer Jackson Department of Anthropology, Yale University October 26, 2003 The following report is submitted in accordance with the Social Science Research Council guidelines for IDRF fellows for the academic year 2003-2004. This report is number one of three for the sponsored dissertation research project, “Getting an Edge in Wordwise: The Social and Productive Role of Verbal Performance in Malagasy Democratic Process”, by Jennifer Jackson, anthropology graduate student at Yale University. This first report details initial practical issues involved in the research as well as early steps for establishing a long-term research methodology. The report is organized in three main sections: Getting oriented and settled, Current methods, and Next steps. Getting oriented and settled. As for practical issues, I have had a pretty easy time getting settled. Because of my time here in the capital in past years, I knew how and where to find a house pretty easily, one that was pre-furnished, yet inexpensive. I chose to live in a part of a house located in the quartier known as Faravohitra. It is a busy, mixed-zone, mostly middle-socio-economic class area and is centrally located in the capital city, Antananarivo. The house is always full of people, because it also serves as an office. The first floor is a common space, kitchen, and outdoor patio with a view overlooking the main part of the city. The second floor is the office, and the third is my bedroom and office space. I climb 313 steps to get home from the main downtown area. This is a town made for walking, and there are winding paths of steps leading all over the city, paths of stairs that meander through and around backyards of homes clinging to the sides of the escarpments. One finds it is both easy and almost impossible to get lost by taking a set of stairs. No matter, as long as you go up when you need to go up and down when you need to go down, the stairs will lead somewhere closer to your destination. Within the first week, I registered with the United States Embassy warden system, something researchers are strongly encouraged to do since the last Presidential election crisis in 2001. In addition to registering for the warden system, I arranged to meet with political officers there. I hope to have informal conversations with these officers to entertain their perspective on the various genres of public, verbal performance in Antananarivo, specifically as these genres inform (or not) the Embassy’s efforts in the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Democracy and Governance programs. Before I departed for Madagascar, I set up a website where I could drop important information, such as this report, onto the web for easier access by people here and in the United States. So far, this system has worked very well for transferring information without using slow, dial-up email lines to send attachments. I have posted my proposal in English and French, my CV, and various other necessary credentials and explanations for the access of officials and professors here in Madagascar. Also, I have provided space for some audio and visual files made from this research that are appropriate to post in a public venue such as the web, and I have included useful links to Malagasy websites for interested researchers. Perhaps other researchers in the future would find this option as equally suitable and helpful to their research. To view the website, go to https://pantheon.yale.edu~jlj26 Current methods…for now. At this early stage in my research, I am trying to mix my time with a good amount of structured activity along with the more unstructured observation and conversation, all of which are appropriate to engaging my research questions. This plan is helpful in this early stage, because I have found in past research projects that I sometimes arrive at overwhelming moments where I am not sure what to do with myself. These structured activities, sure to happen each day, help keep the research going, even when I am lost in research anxiety. These more structured activities, for now, include, attending oratorical performances Jackson, SSRC-IDRF Report 1 of 3 such as kabary and hiragasy throughout the city; participating in kabary courses; regularly attending the president’s church; buying and translating a good-portion of the daily newspapers and cartoon gazettes; researching specific topics in the archives; and, attending university discussions about topics corresponding to my research questions. The less-structured events in my daily life include informal conversations with people in the market, on the bus, and during church events—at least 2 hours a day; and, during breakfast and lunch with those who work in the office in my house—also at least 2 hours a day. I do not have organized, formal interviews with key participants, yet. I feel it is too early to constrain these conversations with commitments to formal interviews. Also, I am still getting settled in the language and coming to know what questions to ask and how best to ask them. Also, I have learned recently, that many people, apparently, are “afraid” still to discuss political matters because of the political crisis in 2001-2002, which ended in victory for Marc Ravalomanana, and exile for the long-time President, Didier Ratsiraka. It seems as though people who did not support the current President saw how powerful his Administration has been in silencing and exiling its opponents, and they fear being punished if they speak out against the Administration. Alongside this, those who supported the President recognize the power it took to win the seat, so that when it comes to speaking freely about everyday social and political matters, they fear a backlash of that very power they supported to win the Presidency. This is just a hypothesis once confirmed by a Malagasy political sociologist here in Antananarivo, but it has been enough to keep me from establishing too much too fast. Kabary and hiragasy performances. I have been attending a kabary or a hiragasy (hiragasy is used to describe either contemporary music or a traditional variety show) on average of once a week. There are less kabary by the President right now, because he has been preparing for the United Nations meetings in late September, but I hope to hear kabary by the President, quite soon. As for hiragasy, I have a potential key informant in one of the more popular musicians, and I am gradually seeing how others may have an interest in assisting my project. Specifically, I am pulling together questions in order to interview specific hiragasy performers, especially those whose lyrics concern political issues. So far, I am told, there are three popular groups whose lyrics seem to articulate with the actual words of politicians, or at least, address political issues: Dama, Rossy, and Tarika. To date, I have not been able to record these performances; however, I anticipate being able to do so in the near future. The kabary and hiragasy I have attended have either taken place at night when it seems unsafe to carry a camera, or in a large stadium where recording would have been limited due to distortion of the sound. However, I have documented these performances as best as possible, and they have helped me to devise a plan for handling future performances. Also, I do think it will be necessary to have at least 2 research assistants who can help me to transcribe these performances, because they tend to be an average of 2.5 hours long. Kabary courses. Each Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I attend kabary classes with young children, ages 11-17. I am not so great in Malagasy as to be able to participate in the kabary classes for adults, who are so skilled in this form of oratory that they make a living from various patron-client relationships involving weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies. Surely, there will be no shortage of comical moments, because I will certainly tower over these small children, yet struggle like a toddler to make the sort of winding speech necessary for kabary. Apparently, we will have a grand fete, or recital, of some sort in June, after the course is complete. By that time, I am told I will be able to make a kabary without any problem. We shall see. I must admit I am very pleased to have been invited to participate as a student in this course. I expected to be an observer in the course, and to interview kabary speakers; yet, my assumption to merely observe seems to have never entered the mind of the teachers and students, all of whom are confidant I am there, as they are, to learn by doing. I am in the process of getting a hold of the curriculum for these kabary courses, in order to get a better look at the conceptual and operative framework underlying these 2 Jackson, SSRC-IDRF Report 1 of 3 courses. Eventually, I will have more extensive conversations with my kabary counterparts—both young and old—and our teachers. This, no doubt, will prove critical to my research. I am eager to interview many of the teachers and students in a larger interview-project concerning memories of what was said in kabary and about kabary during the presidential campaign and the crisis. I am pulling together questions based on archival research of the newspapers and cartoon-gazettes from the campaign and crisis period. Attending the President’s Church.