Notes
319 notes INTRODUCTION 1. My friend communicated this idea by playing on a local idiomatic expression, saying that radio had become “fady [taboo] like tromba [royal spirit possession],” tromba being the focus of my research throughout 1987. In essence, then, radio has come to seem a remnant of the past, no longer viable in the newly commercialized environment of the Fourth Republic. As such, it is now considered unfashionable by urban youth in Antananarivo. 2. I intentionally reject the term “postcolonial,” relying instead on “postindependent.” Although postcolonial operates as a powerful tool for underscoring the complexity of modernity (and thus of postmodern existence), such terminology nevertheless belittles the power— be it actual or potential—of African states and their people following independence. For a compelling discussion of the problematics of such terminology, see Appiah 1991. 3. I wish to thank Thomas Miller for encouraging me to view this exhibit, following his own remarks on its ambiguous status. 4. I should note that this characterization was far more true in the 1970s, when I began my research. In the past few years, there has been a burgeoning of young scholars working throughout the island and outside of the highlands. 5. Malagasy naming practices are complex. The surname is often given first and the personal name second, although this rule is loosely followed at best. Malagasy typically provide the full names of presidents Tsiranana and Ratsiraka with their personal names first, but they do the opposite with Zafy. Honoring national custom, I order their names as do the island’s citizens. 6. As noted earlier, the time frame of this study ends in 1995, two years after President Zafy resumed office (he was removed in late 1996). Ratsiraka has done little to disrupt Zafy’s pedagogical reforms, and schooling continues to be conducted in French. Given that this study focuses on a cohort of students schooled during the Second Republic’s socialist era, it concludes in the mid 1990s. In January 2002, while this book was in press, Ratsiraka’s standing as president was being challenged in preliminary national elections. 7. The anthropological literature on indigenous reconstructions of history is widespread; for discussions of personal histories as social critiques, see Abu-Lughod 1993; Halbwachs 1925, 1968; Hejaiej 1996; and Kenyon 1991; other texts that underscore the intersection of history, collective memory, and politics include Battaglia 1990; Bloch 1989; Boyarin 1994; Casey 1987; Connerton 1989; Comaroff and Comaroff 1991, 1992; Foster 1988; Geertz 1980; Gell 1992; Hobsbawm 1983; Obeyesekere 1992; Price and Price 1991; Rosaldo 1980; Sahlins 1985; Vansina 1985; and Wolf 1982. 8. For the impact of Fanon on other theorists, see Asad 1973; Memmi 1965; Ngugi 1986; Fisher 1985; and Balandier 1951. For Fanon’s critique of Mannoni’s assessment of the colonized mind, see Fanon 1967, ch. 4. 9. In recent years, nationalism has defined a rich terrain for studies by anthropologists and other social scientists. See, e.g., Apter 1992; Anderson 1991; Bayart 1993; Chatterjee 1993; Gellner 1983, 1987; and Mbembe 1992. 10. An exceptional and comprehensive collection has evolved under the editorship of Beatrice B. and John W. M. Whiting. See Whiting 1963; Whiting, Whiting, and Longabaugh 1975; and Whiting and Edwards 1988. And see also, e.g., Burbank 1988; Condon 1987; Davis and Davis 1989; Hollos and Leis 1989; Gottlieb et al. 1966; Lebra 1995; Le Vine 1974; LeVine and White 1986; and LeVine et al. 1994. 11. Numerous standard anthropological techniques have been employed throughout this work to protect informants’ identities. These include the use of pseudonyms and, at times, composite case studies. 12. The lack of attention given to the 1947 insurrection may spring in part from the fact that Ambanja’s inhabitants were not as heavily involved as were people living on the east coast, for example. There were, nevertheless, activists living in the north, and, as colonial documents attest, many people were arrested, interrogated, and tried in the northern province of Antsiranana. As noted, elders with personal knowledge of these events are sometimes reluctant to speak of them in detail. For a detailed account of 1947, see Tronchon 1982. For contemporary perspectives on the politics of memory from the east coast of Madagascar, see Cole, 2001. CHAPTER 1. YOUTH AND THE COLONIZED MIND Epigraph: Ratsiraka 1975, 117. 1. Even the nation’s first constitution made direct reference to its indebtedness to France: the preamble declared “that the Malagasy believe in God and in the eminent dignity of the human person, to...
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