Reclaiming Lost Ancestors and Acknowledging Slave Descent: Insights from Madagascar

Abstract

These three statements regarding personal ancestry were made to me by villagers during life history interviews I conducted a few months into my research in northeastern Madagascar. Each statement is an admission of slave ancestry, and I highlight them to introduce this paper for three reasons. First, such statements are not uncommon in these villages. Many villagers told stories of lost or stolen ancestors, forced labor for “nobles,” and slave ancestry. Second, much of the recent scholarship addressing slavery elsewhere in Madagascar has suggested that slavery is not easily discussed among contemporary residents of this Indian Ocean island. Thus, the fact that the people among whom I studied readily acknowledged their own slave descent by referring to their “lost” or “stolen” grandparents or to their own Makoa identity prompts further comparative inquiry. What factors explain acceptance of slave ancestry among some Malagasy and its concurrent stigmatization among others? Third, examination of variations in Madagascar's responses to slavery can lead us to new insights into the forms of identity and opportunity in other post-slave societies.

Lost in translation: conflicting views of deforestation, land use and identity in western Madagascar

“…There is now a considerable body of work demonstrating the fluidity of ethnic identity in Madagascar, for example Merina (Larson 1996), Vezo (Astuti 1995), Mikea (Poyer and Kelly 2000), and Mahafaly (Eggert 1981). Rather than something attributed simply to shared ancestry, it is common for ethnic identity to be understood as something achieved through performance and livelihood activities, with adherence to taboos playing an important part in this process (Brown 2004). In the case of ‘Sakalava’, the label referred originally to a group of more or less independent monarchies established by the Sakalava‐Maroserana dynasty between the seventeenth and nineteenth century and Menabe was one of their most important kingdoms (Feeley‐Harnik 1978).…”

Speech, silence, and slave descent in highland Madagascar

“…This kind of relationship is reminiscent of the lohateny relationships maintained in northeastern Madagascar by former slaves and their former masters following emancipation (M. Brown ). Not only did these exchanges of goods, services, food, and money serve a practical purpose, they also probably served to disguise the power inequalities in which they had their source (M. Brown : 634). It would be too cynical to identify the empathy and respect of such relationships as nothing more than the delusional product of a mystifying ideology.…”

“…Between Rakoto's and Rasoa's families, for example, there exists a long-standing exchange of gifts, care, and affection, as witnessed in a small way by the mat Rafara wove for me. This kind of relationship is reminiscent of the lohateny relationships maintained in northeastern Madagascar by former slaves and their former masters following emancipation (M. Brown 2004). Not only did these exchanges of goods, services, food, and money serve a practical purpose, they also probably served to disguise the power inequalities in which they had their source (M. Brown 2004: 634).…”

“…The effect of this manumission on the social, economic, and ritual situation of former slaves and their descendants varied according to local political and ecological conditions. In northeastern Madagascar, where land and labour opportunities were relatively abundant, former slaves were able to build independent new lives on a footing almost equal to people of free descent (M. Brown ). By contrast, in the overcrowded northern Betsileo region of Fisakana, where status, wealth, and ritual power are closely linked to ownership of the scarce agricultural land, the situation of former slaves has changed little since emancipation.…”

Why not marry them? Avoiding marriage with the descendants of slaves in southern Betsileo (Madagascar)

“…Études rurales, juillet-décembre 2014, 194 : 103-122 Margaret Brown [2004], par exemple, souligne que les Betsimisaraka de la péninsule de Masoala (nord-est de Madagascar) font peu de cas de l'ascendance servile, laquelle ne constitue pas un empêchement au mariage et peut même être évoquée publiquement par les personnes concernées. Eva Keller, quant à elle, confirme l'absence de discrimination dans cette région et l'explique par le fait que les descendants d'esclaves se sont créé une nouvelle tanindrazana (terre ancestrale) qui leur a permis d'effacer leur statut d'esclave [2008 : 660].…”