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 Periodical article |
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| Title: | Rethinking Ancestors and Colonial Power in Madagascar |
| Authors: | Cole, Jennifer Middleton, Karen |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
| Volume: | 71 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 1-37 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Madagascar |
| Subjects: | Betsimisaraka Karembola death rites Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) colonialism History and Exploration |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1161480 |
| Abstract: | This article reconsiders the relationship between ancestors and colonial power through a comparative analysis of the mortuary rituals of two Malagasy peoples, the Betsimisaraka of the east coast and the Karembola of the deep south. In contrast to analyses which emphasize an opposition between ancestors and colonial power, the authors argue that mortuary rituals construct striking analogies between the two. These analogies rest on similar conceptualizations of power as both enabling and enslaving, and are enacted in contemporary mortuary ritual through the incorporation of colonial goods and labour practices. By playing on similarities and differences between ancestral and colonial power, Betsimisaraka and Karembola mortuary rituals parody and critique mimetically appropriate colonial power, even as their appropriation of colonial symbols endows ritual practices around ancestors with the power to pull against the centralizing power of the national sphere. The authors argue that M. Bakhtin's conception of heteroglossic language provides a useful way of conceptualizing the multiple dimensions of Malagasy ritual practices around ancestors. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. |
