Verbal Arts in Madagascar: Performance in Historical PerspectiveVerbal Arts in Madagascar combines a history of the encounter between Europeans and colonized people with a groundbreaking analysis of four types of Malagasy folklore: riddles, proverbs, hainteny (dialogic exchanges of traditional metaphors), and oratory. In this richly textured study, Lee Haring has collected several hundred witty, imaginative texts and translated them into English for the first time. Verbal Arts in Madagascar contains the first history of the collecting of folklore in Madagascar from 1820 to the present. Haring contends that when European investigators recorded this "native culture" they created a vision of "folklore" which served French domination by trivializing Malagasy reality. Now, through comparison and analysis of texts gathered during a century and a half by foreigners, Haring shows that the four types of folklore examined make use of a pervasive two-sided dialogic structure. Although Haring works from texts transcribed and published at least seventy years ago, his analysis always highlights the performance of folklore in actual social settings. By drawing upon the observations of collectors and upon information presented in chronicles, ethnographies, reports, and other historical documents, Haring successfully reconstructs the performances of the texts and the social context in which the performances took place. Verbal Arts in Madagascar pioneers an integrated approach to past folklore studies into contemporary theory. It will especially interest students and scholars in folklore, history, African studies, and anthropology. |
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Page 43
Not all contradictive riddles are privational : another kind is “ antithetical , ” stating an opposition explicitly in words : “ Strike with the flat of your hand , ' says the mother . ' Strike with your fist , ' say the children .
Not all contradictive riddles are privational : another kind is “ antithetical , ” stating an opposition explicitly in words : “ Strike with the flat of your hand , ' says the mother . ' Strike with your fist , ' say the children .
Page 55
These imitative dialogues seem to teach children what kinds of witty speaking will draw an appreciative laugh . When Merina children play tomabo , their reward for stylistic correctness is adult laughter .
These imitative dialogues seem to teach children what kinds of witty speaking will draw an appreciative laugh . When Merina children play tomabo , their reward for stylistic correctness is adult laughter .
Page 200
A new kind of dialogue and a new kind of quotation enter in . The speaker becomes the voice of the dead man . As a direct answer reveals the meaning of a riddle , and as literal language , in many hainteny , answers metaphor , so the ...
A new kind of dialogue and a new kind of quotation enter in . The speaker becomes the voice of the dead man . As a direct answer reveals the meaning of a riddle , and as literal language , in many hainteny , answers metaphor , so the ...
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Contents
Question and Answer | 34 |
Dialogue in Monologue | 63 |
The Merina Hainteny | 98 |
Copyright | |
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acceptance African ancestors answer assert audience authority balance called choice collected connection contest continues conversation created culture Dahle dead death debate deliverer dialect dialogue Domenichini-Ramiaramanana European example expressive fixed folklore folklorists followed formal French funeral genre give hainteny hianao Houlder importance interaction island kabary kind king language linguistic living Madagascar Malagasy marriage means Merina metaphor missionaries monologic observed ohabolana oral oration oratory origin pattern Paulhan performance person petitioner phrases pieces play poems poetic poetry political present printed proverbs question quotation quoted raha Rasamuel reference relations reported riddle says separate single situation social society speaker speaking speech structure style symbolic tale texts tradition trans translated Turn University verbal voices wife woman words writing