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upon the observations of collectors and upon information presented in chronicles, ethnographies, reports, and other historical documents, Haring successfully reconstructs the performances of the texts and the social context in which the performances took place.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 8
By treating Malagasy language scientifically , as a merely grammatical order ,
their linguistic efforts indirectly remodeled Merina society at the level of its
symbolic representations . Their contact with the highland Merina and their desire
to ...
By treating Malagasy language scientifically , as a merely grammatical order ,
their linguistic efforts indirectly remodeled Merina society at the level of its
symbolic representations . Their contact with the highland Merina and their desire
to ...
Page 187
The deliverer accepts the “ sheep ' s rump , ” a symbolic food , in few words .
Once it is handed over , all the “ takers ” from the groom ' s family are given other
symbolic food , tolotra , small pieces of beef or duck threaded on strings . If food is
a ...
The deliverer accepts the “ sheep ' s rump , ” a symbolic food , in few words .
Once it is handed over , all the “ takers ” from the groom ' s family are given other
symbolic food , tolotra , small pieces of beef or duck threaded on strings . If food is
a ...
Page 190
By their constant assertions that nothing has been changed in the customs of the
ancestors , moreover , the two speakers symbolically purge the social order of
disorder and restore its integrity ( Wolf 1966 : 98 ) . So tragedy , Aristotle said ,
was ...
By their constant assertions that nothing has been changed in the customs of the
ancestors , moreover , the two speakers symbolically purge the social order of
disorder and restore its integrity ( Wolf 1966 : 98 ) . So tragedy , Aristotle said ,
was ...
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Contents
Question and Answer | 50 |
Dialogue in Monologue | 63 |
The Merina Hainteny | 98 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
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 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