Knowledge, Education and Social Differentiation Amongst the Betsileo of Fisakana, Highland Madagascar
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Knowledge, Education and Social Differentiation amongst the Betsileo of Fisakana, Highland Madagascar Luke Earle Freeman London School of Economics and Political Science Doctor of Philosophy 2001 0 Abstract This thesis is an ethnographic study of a village in Fisakana, an area of highland Madagascar where the institution of formal education has had great social, economic and cultural influence. Although the principal means of subsistence in Fisakana is wet rice cultivation, a severe shortage of good land has led to large-scale emigration. Schooling has provided opportunities for social and spatial mobility that have shaped the character of the region. Migration and movement are dominant themes in the ethnography of Madagascar. The thesis examines three different types of migration in Fisakana. Each entails a different type of relationship between the migrants and their ancestral land. These are discussed in the context of other literature dealing with this topic in the anthropology of Madagascar. The region is characterised by inequalities of wealth. People working in the professional sector have prospered economically in comparison to those dependent on agriculture. This thesis makes an original contribution to the literature on social and economic differentiation in the highlands by treating the subject from an ethnographic perspective. The role of formal education in widening socio-economic differentiation is explored in detail. Then the thesis studies how this differentiation is elaborated symbolically through the building of houses and tombs. It also points out the ambiguous nature of tomb ceremonies: whilst ostensibly symbolising social unity and cohesion, they also imply fissure and exclusion. The thesis then examines the Betsileo social construction of knowledge. Through an exploration of what is learned inside and outside the classroom the thesis shows how local notions of traditional and foreign knowledge articulate with missionary, colonial and post- colonial ideologies of schooling, and with the social and spatial differentiation and displacement produced by formal education. 1 Contents Preface.....………………………………………………………………………..………6 Chapter One: Introduction…………………………………………………………….…9 Ambohipo: a northern Betsileo village……………………………………………….…9 Antanimangahazo………………………………………………………………10 The Commandant………………………………………………………13 Ambaniavaratra………………………………...………………………………15 Raharisoa……………………………………………………………….16 Antanety………………………………………………………………………..20 Rapaoly………………………………………………………………....21 Ambalamahasoa…………………………………………………………….….24 Tongotrazo……………………………………………………………………...26 Ravao…………………………………………………………………...28 Rakotobe………………………………………………………………..30 Simon-Piera, Rakoto, Rasamson……………………………………...………..32 Simon-Piera……………………………………………………...……..32 Rakoto…………………………………………...……………………..35 Rasamson……………………………………………………………….37 Thematic and theoretical orientation of the thesis……………………………...38 Chapter Two: Reconstructing the past………………………………...……………….43 The early settlement of Sahamadio……………………………...……..47 The move from the hilltops…………………………...………………..52 The Merina conquest………………………...…………………………56 Sahamadio under Merina rule………………………………...………..60 The arrival of the missionaries………………………...……………….70 Mission schools and fanompoana…………………………...…………72 The French occupation……………………………...………………….74 The colonial administration in Sahamadio……………………………..81 Sahamadio in the colonial administration……………...………………83 Post-independence Sahamadio…………………...…………………….87 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………...93 Chapter Three: Migration……………………………………………………………………………….96 Movement……………………………………………………………………... 96 The wandering Betsileo………………………………………………...99 A slow migration westward……………………………………………...……101 The past: hilltop and forest…………………………………...……….101 East to west…………………………………………………...……….108 Tombs and tanindrazana……………………………………………...109 Fields and tanindrazana…………………………………...………….110 Desire for descendants………………………………………...………114 Migration to the mid-west……………………………………...……………..116 Landscape and people………………………...……………………... 118 Settling in………………………………………………...…………...119 Tombs and tanindrazana……………………………………………...120 Descendants of slaves………………………………………………... 120 2 Migration to the city………………………………...……………………….. 122 Kin and compatriots………………...………………………………...122 Organisations of ampielezana ………………………………...………123 Working for the tanindrazana ………………………………………..125 Tombs and tanindrazana……………………………………………...126 Ampielezana and ancestral fields……………...……………………...128 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….130 Chapter Four: Socio-economic differentiation…………………………………….….133 Land……………………………………………………………...…………....134 Land in Sahamadio……………………………...……………….……135 Senior status and connections to government …………………………...……139 Status and government in Sahamadio ……………………………...…141 Slaves………………………………………………………………………….146 Education and differentiation…………………………...…………………….149 Education and differentiation in Ambohipo…………………………..155 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….159 Chapter Five: Ritual differentiation………………………..……………….……...…165 Unity and fissure…………………………………………………...……...….168 Tomb building ………………………………..……………………………….172 Communal work……………………………………..………………..173 Discord and jealousy…………………………...……………….….....176 Heads of tomb groups………………………………………………....178 Differentiation and tomb style……………………………………...…181 Lanonana……………………………………………………………………...183 Lanonana at Amboasary………………………………...……………183 Lanonana at Tsimola………………………………………………….185 Lanonana and status……………………………………………..……187 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….188 Chapter Six: The moral environment of the land of the ancestors………………...….193 Knowledge, place and conduct………………………………………………..193 Fomba …………………………...……………………………………197 The time of the ancestors……………………………………………………...204 Working the land……………………………………………...………………207 Houses……………………………………...…………………………………214 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….218 Chapter Seven: The school and school knowledge…………………………...………219 The ideological history of the Malagasy school……………………...……….221 Theoretical perspectives on schooling………………...……………………...227 At school………………………………………………………………………231 The school and the wider world…………………………...………….232 ‘The customs of the school’…………………...……………………...233 The language of instruction…………………...………………………237 School knowledge…………………………………………………...………..239 The provenance and authority of school knowledge…………...……..240 Fahaizana…………….……………………………………………….243 Liver-thieves…………………………………………………………..247 3 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………….249 Chapter Eight: Conclusion………………………………………………………………….…………255 Knowledge, place and morality……………………………………………….257 Power, status and fahaizana………………………………...………...259 Ancestralising fahaizana………………………...……………………261 The vitality and volatility of fahaizana…………...………………..…263 The creation of fomba ………………………...………………………………265 Opposition and assimilation…………………...……………………………...268 References…………………………………………………………………………….271 Glossary……………………………………………………………………………….280 Maps………………………………………………………………………...………...281 4 For my father and mother & Ho an-dRadada sy Ramama 5 Preface In late 1997 I arrived at Ramama and Radada’s house in Ambohipo dragging a large suitcase. I had visited there briefly twice before, both times with my old friend Solo, who had invited me to do fieldwork in his home village, although he no longer lived there. He assured me that, as his adopted brother, his family would be delighted to have me. But I urged him to write and ask their permission. There was no need, he said. I asked that he at least write a letter to warn them of my arrival, and he agreed. A few weeks later he put me on a bus with my luggage, and told the driver to drop me off at Ambohipo. Ramama and Radada were pleased to see me again. Solo’s sister Rasoa immediately invited me to stay in her house, where there was a spare room. Glancing at my luggage, they asked how long I had come to stay. I realised then that they had not received Solo’s letter; I suspect now that he never sent it, for he was sure of the welcome I would receive. I stayed for eighteen months. Ramama and Radada adopted me as the sixth of their eleven children, guiding me with kindness, patience and indulgence. Rasoa looked after me as her little brother. She nursed me through typhoid, corrected my faux pas, sent me on errands, and steered me away from girls with a reputation for witchcraft. She and her husband Rajean-Ba took me into their home and their lives as though it involved nothing more than the cooking of an extra portion of rice. I was part of a family of sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and in-laws; and I continue to be so. Their openness and generosity of spirit remain with me. It therefore seems inappropriate to hide their identity by changing their names, as is often the convention in anthropology. Villagers not of my close family, though, appear under pseudonyms. But I have not changed the name of the village, nor of the valley, Sahamadio, nor of the towns at either end of it, Fandriana and Miadanimerina. Malagasy names are long and rhythmic, though 6 perhaps rather difficult for the uninitiated. The fact that Betsileo personal names often begin with the prefix Ra, which denotes respect, can make them hard to tell apart. The trick is to look beyond the Ra. Some names are adapted from French names: thus François becomes Rafarantsoa. I was known as Lioka, or sometimes as Ralioka. I have been economical with my use of Malagasy vocabulary, and have usually simply translated terms that have a direct equivalent in English. However, there