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upon the observations of collectors and upon information presented in chronicles, ethnographies, reports, and other historical documents, Haring successfully reconstructs the performances of the texts and the social context in which the performances took place.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 80
In Madagascar , as everywhere else , proverbs tend to mean most in the “
interaction situation , ” the moment in social space - time when a person speaks a
saying . In that moment , the proverb points the hearer ' s attention to a “ context ...
In Madagascar , as everywhere else , proverbs tend to mean most in the “
interaction situation , ” the moment in social space - time when a person speaks a
saying . In that moment , the proverb points the hearer ' s attention to a “ context ...
Page 124
Corresponding to what Seitel calls the proverb situation , it is the set of facts
inherent in the text of the hainteny itself if I take it literally . The hainteny situation
is the dramatic scene in which represented characters speak to each other .
Corresponding to what Seitel calls the proverb situation , it is the set of facts
inherent in the text of the hainteny itself if I take it literally . The hainteny situation
is the dramatic scene in which represented characters speak to each other .
Page 193
Having observed the conflict between dialogue and monologue in other
Malagasy folklore , what can we see in Mondain ' s text ? For one thing , no free
dialogue is allowed in the interaction situation . The oration is as monologic as a
proverb .
Having observed the conflict between dialogue and monologue in other
Malagasy folklore , what can we see in Mondain ' s text ? For one thing , no free
dialogue is allowed in the interaction situation . The oration is as monologic as a
proverb .
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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 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 verbal voices wife woman words writing