森の民, 湖へ行く : 北東マダガスカル, ベツィミサラカにおける伝統と現在

Abstract

The region of Lake Alaotra, which is located at the northeastern end of the central plateau of Madagascar and inhabited by the Sihanaka, lies adjacent to tropical rain forest to its east. In this forest zone live the people called Betsimisaraka. Both the Sihanaka, who have settled around the lake, and the Betsimisaraka, who live in the forest perceive the Sihanaka as wet-rice cultivators, the Betsimisaraka as mainly swidden cultivators. However, the Betsimisaraka living in the fringe area are said to have become "Sihanakaized, " and my own field research confirmed this phenomenon of "Sihanakaization." This paper aims to clarify the real significance of "Sihanakaization" among the Betsimisaraka, bringing into focus the conceptual distinction which is made by the Betsimisaraka themselves between "customs (fomba)" and "life (fiainana), " that is, between the traditional customs and their actual way of life : they say that they remain Betsimisaraka in their traditional customs, but that they could be also called Sihanaka in as far as their way of life is concerned. In addition to ethnographic description and analysis, this paper deals with theoretical issues concerning so-called ethnicity, not from the viewpoint of the definition of ethnic categories, but from that of their use, which is essentially dependent on context.