Abstract
In this article, I bring together work in political ecology and environmental anthropology to examine how smallholder farmers in Madagascar articulate and embody political and economic histories through the everyday interactions with the commodities cultivated in their fields and forests. I ask: how does the work of cultivating land connect with the art of cultivating memory? In considering this question, I draw from ethnographic research in the agrarian village of Imorona, located in Northeastern Madagascar. In Imorona, smallholder farmers turn towards the materials in their agroforestry fields to reference the more painful political epics of their collective pasts – memories that otherwise remain largely silent within everyday realms of Malagasy culture. I show how the stories people tell of their shifting relationships to commodities including rosewood, vanilla and cloves bring together political and economic 'histories writ large' with more personal and intimate 'histories writ small.' Overall, I argue that the analytical approach of a 'political ecology of memory' offers the productive capacity to look both outward towards others, and inwards towards self. In the process, it elucidates the ways that people render global histories personal. Key words: Political ecology; memory; agroforestry; commodities; Madagascar; Indian Ocean.
Highlights
Introduction: landscapes of remembering and forgettingIn the agrarian village of Imorona, in the Mananara Nord region of Northeastern Madagascar, history hovers closely over everyday life
In this article, I bring together work in political ecology and environmental anthropology to examine how smallholder farmers in Madagascar articulate and embody political and economic histories through the everyday interactions with the commodities cultivated in their fields and forests
I expand upon the concept of a 'political ecology of memory' and what it may contribute to on-going conversations on the dynamic interactions between political power, environmental meanings, and the everyday constructions of personhood
Summary
In the agrarian village of Imorona, in the Mananara Nord region of Northeastern Madagascar, history hovers closely over everyday life. For all its richness, there are apparent gaps in the oral history record of the Imorona region Both the historians and storytellers I spoke with, for example, remained largely quiet on the more painful subjects of the region's political past, including times of forced labor, colonialism, and war. I argue that by talking about the past by referencing the materials in their fields people remove themselves from the historical spotlight, elevating instead the landscape as the protagonist of history This rhetorical move, in turn, allows the speaker to follow the Malagasy preference for speaking indirectly and through metaphor, especially when addressing difficult or controversial subjects (Cole 2001; Graeber 2007; Huff 2014). I expand upon the concept of a 'political ecology of memory' and what it may contribute to on-going conversations on the dynamic interactions between political power, environmental meanings, and the everyday constructions of personhood
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