Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 5-15-2020 1:00 PM Growing Relations: An ethnographic study on rice, vanilla, and yams in Madagascar Tyler MacIntosh The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Anthropology A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Master of Arts © Tyler MacIntosh 2020 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation MacIntosh, Tyler, "Growing Relations: An ethnographic study on rice, vanilla, and yams in Madagascar" (2020). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 6996. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/6996 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Abstract I examine the various ways in which the rice, wild yams, and vanilla that grow in northern Madagascar feature in the lives of numerous people including rural community members, representatives of the Malagasy government, and foreigners, focusing especially on the distinctive networks of relationships entailed by each of these plants. Each case presents interesting dilemmas from which we can gain insight into the everyday lives and hardships faced by rural Malagasy. Rice is a staple crop which both feeds and employs many Malagasy. More importantly it is at the base of everyday life, sustaining and creating important social ties. Wild yams are a famine food which are largely foraged by food- insecure communities.