RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS in TAMATAVE, MADAGASCAR By
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CITY LIVELIHOODS AND VILLAGE LINKAGES: RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS IN TAMATAVE, MADAGASCAR by LAURA MARIE TILGHMAN (Under the Direction of Bram Tucker) ABSTRACT Scholars have theorized that even as a greater number of Africans are migrating to cities they will continue to maintain strong ties to rural places of origin as long as urban economies offer minimal security or economic opportunity. In this dissertation I analyze two aspects of rural-urban migration and linkages in northeastern Madagascar. First, I analyze which aspects of contemporary Malagasy life may lead some migrants to change or weaken ties to their home villages and rural family members. Second, I analyze the role that rural linkages play in migrants’ urban livelihood strategies. During 12 months I studied the lives of 55 migrants originating from the Vavatenina District and currently living in the city of Tamatave. I used participant observation, structured interviews, livelihood and wellbeing assessments, and ranking exercises to determine migrants’ life histories, migration and livelihood strategies, and behaviors and values regarding rural linkages. First, I found that migrants with weaker rural linkages tended to be male, poor, Protestant, and had a spouse or parent who was from outside the Vavatenina District. I explore the influence of religion on rural-urban linkages in greater depth in a case study, arguing that as Protestant churches coalesce around a common narrative that demonizes select rural activities, migrants in turn not only abstain from these prohibited activities but in some cases have weaker overall linkages due to conflicts with family, smaller social networks, and ambiguity about future burial location. Second, I found that strong rural linkages were associated with migrants having greater stocks of material and financial capital, but that there was no such impact on social and human capital or food security. I use the 2011 clove harvest as a case study to illustrate the relationship between linkages and livelihoods, arguing that using rural resources as part of an urban livelihood strategy is not possible if migrants have not invested in relationships with rural people. I conclude that poverty alleviation and conservation policies in Madagascar would be more effective if they recognized the relationships between rural and urban people. INDEX WORDS: Migration; Urbanization; Rural-Urban Linkages; Translocal Ties; Transmigrants; Livelihood Strategies; Remittances; Charismatic- Pentecostal Christianity; Clove (Syzygium aromaticum); Africa; Madagascar CITY LIVELIHOODS AND VILLAGE LINKAGES: RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS IN TAMATAVE, MADAGASCAR by LAURA MARIE TILGHMAN BA, University of Vermont, 2004 BS, University of Vermont, 2004 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2014 © 2014 Laura Marie Tilghman All Rights Reserved CITY LIVELIHOODS AND VILLAGE LINKAGES: RURAL-URBAN MIGRANTS IN TAMATAVE, MADAGASCAR by LAURA MARIE TILGHMAN Major Professor: Bram Tucker Committee: J. Peter Brosius Steven Holloway Donald Nelson Kavita Pandit Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2014 iv DEDICATION Ho an’ny zanak’i Vavatenina izay nandray anjara tamin’ny fikarohagnanahy: mankasitraka, mankateligny. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks first and foremost to the 55 migrants who are the stars of this dissertation. They opened their homes to me and my strange questions, and in the process helped me better understand life in northeastern Madagascar. Over the course of 18 months I bore witness as they experienced major life events: one birth, one infant death, the beginnings of two pregnancies, one marriage engagement, one major health crisis, the deaths of several close relatives, and many reversals of fortune for good and bad. Although I have used pseudonyms to protect their privacy, their names and experiences remain etched in my mind. I will forever be grateful for their patience, kindness, and honesty. My research in the city of Tamatave and throughout the rural Vavatenina District was facilitated by the efforts of several people. Raharimandimby Fidelys was my primary research assistant from January 2011 to July 2012, and besides interviewing, translating, and transcribing he also shared his passion for Betsimisaraka culture and his trusty scooter. For the survey of the migrant population in Tamatave in early 2011, we were joined by 15 members of Association des Jeunes Universitaires de Vavatenina (AJUV). During preliminary research on migration in Tamatave in 2009, I was assisted by the enthusiastic trio of Randriamboavonjy Niaina Patrick, Mamy Ludger, and Herimalala Rakotondramanana Zakaniaina. During preliminary research in the Vavatenina District in July 2008, I was assisted by Bodoharilala Eddy Ramiadantsoa who persevered despite the distance. Other anthropologists with extensive knowledge and experience in the region were generous enough to give me advice, including the late Laurent Babity, Jennifer Cole, Fulgence Fanony, and Eugene Mangalaza. Randrianja Solofo generously provided vi an office at the Laboratoire Pluridisciplinaire de Toamasina, and president of the Université de Toamasina Gatien Horace provided institutional support and affiliation for grants and visas. Bemananjara Jeanine and Marindaza were patient Malagasy language instructors at the Alliance Française de Tamatave. Jery Laurent put me in touch with his family in Ambatobe, and Vincent and Maman’i Lara always made me feel welcome in their home there. The American expat community in Tamatave helped this vazaha from getting too homesick, and for that I thank Colin and Kimberly Baldwin Radford, Danny Hervol, Maya Moore, and our honorary-American An Bollen. I would also like to thank my parents-in-law Kherounnissa Tombosoa and Chan Chong Tsiu, and the members of their large extended family, for welcoming me into the fold. Financial support for this research was provided by the National Science Foundation in many forms: from 2008-2011, a Graduate Research Fellowship for graduate coursework and preliminary research; in 2008, a Research Experience for Graduates supplement to my advisor Bram Tucker’s grant (BCS-0650412) for preliminary research; and from 2011-2012, a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (BCS-1124316) for the bulk of my dissertation research. I also received financial support to present some of my research findings at academic conferences in 2013 and 2014 from the University of Georgia Graduate School and Department of Anthropology, and the Society for Economic Anthropology. This dissertation was inspired by previous educational and research experiences in Madagascar, and I would like to recognize the people who helped me back then. I first traveled to Madagascar in 2002 to participate in the School for International Training’s study abroad program in conservation and ecology, and I owe my passion for this great island to that formative experience. Thanks to Gretchen Young and Mamy Rajaonah for keeping us safe, and to my fellow students for their friendship then and after – especially Merrill Baker-Médard, Celia vii Meyer Bird, and Tim O’Neil. I thank Luis Vivanco and Saleem Ali for guidance and encouragement in my early research efforts in 2003 and 2005. Benjamin Neimark is an insightful scholar and a generous colleague. Many Malagasy researchers and practitioners oriented me to the country, including Mamitiana Rakotozafy and the staff at MATEZA, and Etienne Rakotobe, Rabodo Adriantsiferana, and the staff at CNARP. All throughout I was welcomed into the homes of Malagasy strangers, and some – Dadou, Misa and Ny Aina in Antananarivo, and Solange and Léonor in Maroantsetra – now feel like family. I came to the Department of Anthropology at the University of Georgia in 2007 and I am grateful for all the people now in my life as a result. Bram Tucker convinced me to come and has been an amazing advisor ever since. I am indebted to him for his mentoring, encouragement, advice, and humor. I really could not have done this without him. My committee members – Pete Brosius, Steve Holloway, Don Nelson, and Kavita Pandit – have all helped me in their own ways, and this dissertation is better for their part in it. The amazing staff of the anthropology department – LaBau Bryan, Deb Chasteen, Lisa Norris, Brenda Yuhas, and especially Margie Floyd – have all been extremely helpful and patient. Kimberly Love-Meyers and Zhen Yan at UGA’s Statistical Consulting Center helped out with data analysis and translating statistical concepts to a novice like me. My fellow BEEDLers – Amber Huff, Elaina Lill, Victoria Ramenzoni, Joe Lanning, Jessica Ham, Michael Lonneman, and Rich Owens – made me look forward to coming to the office to work. The other graduate students in the department have at various times been drinking buddies, peer editors, shoulders to cry on, tough critics, and morale boosters. Thanks especially to my original cohort: Victor Iminjili, Genevieve Holdridge, Catarina and Will Townes, Susannah Chapman and Tad Brown, Madalena Monteban and Lucas Lopvet, Dave Meek and Jo Weaver, Sakura Evans, Danyel Addes, Cara Sipprelle, Dan Bigman, viii Patti Dunne, and Mike and Alicia Coughlan. Thanks also to friends from Vermont who kept in touch during my long absences: Amanda and Dan Goossen, Annie and Chris Templeton, Liza Sprout, Heidi Wheeler, and Molly McGown. My curiosity for the world was nurtured by my family. My sisters,