People of the Sea: Identity and Descent among the Vezo of - download pdf or read online

By Rita Astuti

ISBN-10: 0511521049

ISBN-13: 9780511521041

ISBN-10: 0521024730

ISBN-13: 9780521024730

ISBN-10: 0521433509

ISBN-13: 9780521433501

The Vezo are fishing humans of western Madagascar. The id of the Vezo isn't really fastened through descent; relatively, it's verified via what they do. they're humans of the ocean, extraordinary from the farmers round them by way of their monetary specialism. Ethnicity is generally considered a outcome of inborn features obtained via descent, and Astuti explores the results of ascribing ethnic id almost about financial task. Her research unearths that simply within the cult of the useless does descent turn into severe, and her argument during this cutting edge research of Vezo kinship is that the folk distinguish versions of the individual: one made up our minds via the prior, and the opposite outlined contextually, within the current.

Show description

Read or Download People of the Sea: Identity and Descent among the Vezo of Madagascar PDF

Similar africa books

Download e-book for iPad: The Cambridge History of Africa (1790-1870) by John E. Flint

The interval lined during this quantity is one that starts off with the emergence of anti-slave exchange attitudes in Europe, and ends at the eve of ecu colonial conquest. yet apart from white conquests in Algeria and South Africa, and colonies of unfastened Blacks at the west coast, the subject is that of African independence, initiative and model within the final section of its pre-colonial background.

Download e-book for kindle: The Church of Women: Gendered Encounters between Maasai and by Dorothy L. Hodgson

In Africa, why have such a lot of extra ladies switched over to Christianity than males? What explains the allure of Christianity to ladies? Do spiritual conversion and spirituality function websites for the negotiation of gender and ethnic id? Can faith motivate own, political, and collective empowerment of ladies?

Get Historical dictionary of Gabon PDF

Offers the result of new learn at the interval among 1914 and 1940. additionally synthesizes info concerning the changes that experience happened in view that 1967 lower than President Omar Bongo, together with the upheavals of 1990-91.

Download e-book for iPad: The Last Defenders of the Laager: Ian D. Smith and F. W. de by Dickson Mungazi [Deceased]

Whilst the Afrikaners (Boers) migrated northward from the Cape to flee British rule, they enountered the Zulu humans. to guard their claims, the Boers shaped the laager, a circle of wagons. As years handed, the laager received wider political dimensions and have become an emblem of Afrikaner choice to outlive lower than antagonistic stipulations.

Extra resources for People of the Sea: Identity and Descent among the Vezo of Madagascar

Example text

On the other hand, Rolpha's description of his ancestors' transformation into Vezo seems to underestimate the difficulty for a former Masikoro of learning to be Vezo; it is a fair guess that to learn from scratch how to dig a canoe, sail or fish is rather more challenging than Rolpha suggested. The reason for this is that Rolpha's story completely ignored the learning process, or rather he ignored its duration over time. Rolpha's attitude was in fact quite typical. All my Vezo friends portrayed learning as a sharp transition (a 'jump' rather than a process) from a state of not-yet-knowing to a state of full knowledge.

For at that point in time, the sailor 'is' indeed a Masikoro; and yet, he 'is' also Vezo in so far as, and as long as, he lives on the coast. Similarly, the man in Marofihitsy we encountered earlier 'is' Vezo when he builds canoes, but he 'is' also Masikoro in so far as, and as long as, he lives in the interior. Nonetheless, the longer duration of what people 'are' by virtue of where they live does not contradict my previous claim about the contingency of Vezo identity. This is because no matter how long a person remains in the same place, she never becomesfixedin what she 'is' by virtue of living there.

And that he is Vezo (fa Vezo aja id). Knowing how to sail implies being able to predict the directions of the 24 People of the sea wind, the conditions of currents, waves and tides, changes in the weather, the configuration of the sea-bed and the reference points along the coast. Before setting out to fish, one has to wait for the right wind: coconut tree branches are carefully observed to decide when the wind becomes strong enough for sailing, and to predict how the wind will change during the day; the latter will affect the decision about where to go fishing.

Download PDF sample

People of the Sea: Identity and Descent among the Vezo of Madagascar by Rita Astuti


by Jeff
4.3

Rated 4.21 of 5 – based on 9 votes