The Earth Shakers of Madagascar: An Anthropological Study of Authority, Fertility and Creation

by Oliver Woolley

Overview

An analysis of how the complex rituals of Sahafatra culture are used to transform a once barren landscape into agricultural land.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367716622
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	03/31/2021
Series:	LSE Monographs on Social Anthropology , #73
Pages:	294
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Oliver Woolley recently completed his PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Note on Dialect, Transcription and Orthography ix

Prologue: Setting the Scene 1

Introduction: The Wasteland, Its People and History 11

1 The Bigger Picture: Background and Theory 37

2 The Authority System in the Wasteland 77

3 Competing Idioms of Power 109

4 Testing: The Process of Becoming a Senior Panjaka 125

5 The Potency of the Panjaka 159

6 The 'Raising Up' of the Panjaka as Human Alchemy 185

7 Funerary and Commemorative Practices 199

Conclusion: Composite Power and the Cult of Creation 225

Notes 245

Bibliography 267

Index 277