The Sacrificed Generation: Youth, History, and the Colonized Mind in Madagascar

Contents

contents list of illustrations ⁄ ix list of tables ⁄ xi acknowledgments ⁄ xiii notes on the text ⁄ xv part i. the reconstruction of a children’s history Introduction ⁄ 3 Alternative Visions ⁄ 3 Historical and Political Considerations ⁄ 9 Childhood Reconsidered ⁄ 13 Methodological Conundrums ⁄ 21 The Organization of the Study ⁄ 26 1. Youth and the Colonized Mind ⁄ 29 Revolution and National Transformations ⁄ 30 Linguistic Hegemony ⁄ 40 Past Sacrifices ⁄ 51 Reconfiguring the Nation ⁄ 54 Youthful Reflections ⁄ 62 part ii. the perplexities of urban schooling: sacrifice, suffering, and survival ⁄ 75 2. The Sacrificed Generation ⁄ 77 African Inequalities ⁄ 77 Encountering Extremes ⁄ 79 An Ambanja Education ⁄ 83 State Ideology and Pedagogical Praxis ⁄ 99 Youth and the Politics of Schooling ⁄ 112 3. The Life and Hard Times of the School Migrant ⁄ 114 Portraits of Daily Survival ⁄ 114 The Trials of School Migration ⁄ 115 The Tenuousness of School Success ⁄ 132 Envisioning a Future ⁄ 139 part iii. freedom, labor, and loyalty ⁄ 153 4. The Resurgence of Royal Power ⁄ 155 The Reawakening of a Dormant Kingdom ⁄ 155 Conquest and Royal Resistance ⁄ 165 Royal Modern ⁄ 169 5. Our Grandfathers Went to War ⁄ 176 The Colonial Hunger for African Labor ⁄ 177 Conquest, Capture, and Enslavement ⁄ 181 The Abandoned Bodies of Lost Ancestors ⁄ 183 Colonial Resistance ⁄ 186 6. Laboring for the Colony ⁄ 195 A History of Forced Labor ⁄ 196 Colonial Loyalties: La Mentalité Coloniale, La Mentalité Indigène ⁄ 205 part iv. youth and the nation: schooling and its perils ⁄ 221 7. Girls and Sex and Other Urban Diversions ⁄ 223 Town Girls ⁄ 223 Worldly Diversions ⁄ 228 The Immorality of Play ⁄ 238 8. The Social Worth of Children ⁄ 252 Lost Youth ⁄ 253 Children and Urban Prosperity ⁄ 261 Conclusion: Youth in an Age of Nationalism ⁄ 273 Despair ⁄ 273 Youth and Memory Politics ⁄ 274 Future Desires ⁄ 280 appendix 1. a guide to key informants / 283 appendix 2. population figures for madagascar, 1900–1994 / 293 appendix 3. population figures for ambanja and the sambirano valley / 294 appendix 4. schools in ambanja and the sambirano valley / 297 appendix 5. enrollment figures for select ambanja schools / 303 appendix 6. bac results at the state-run lycée tsiaraso i, 1990–1994 / 309 appendix 7. students’ aspirations / 310 notes / 319 glossary / 347 references / 353 index / 371 ...