People of the Sea
Identity and Descent among the Vezo of Madagascar

A study of the Vezo fishing people which examines their definition of their own identity.

Rita Astuti (Author)

9780521024730, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 16 March 2006

204 pages, 5 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.1 x 1.4 cm, 0.32 kg

"This ethnography illuminates issues of identity which are otherwise lacking in the scholarly literature; the work, therefore, represents an important insight into the ways in which people perceive themselves. Organization is logical and discussion is thorough...Ease of reading and lucidity of discussion as well as the fascinating subject matter make this ethnography perfect for use in an undergraduate course." Religious Studies Review

The Vezo, a fishing people of western Madagascar, are known as 'the people who struggle with the sea'. Dr Astuti explores their identity showing that it is established through what people do rather than being determined by descent. Vezo identity is a 'way of doing' rather than a 'state of being', performative rather than ethnic. However, her innovative analysis of Vezo kinship also uncovers an opposite form of identity based on descent, which she argues is the identity of the dead. By looking at key mortuary rituals that engage the relationship between the living and the dead, Dr Astuti develops a dual model of the Vezo person: the one defined contextually in the present, the other determined by the past.

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Acting Vezo in the present
3. People without wisdom
4. Avoiding ties and bonds
5. Intermezzo
6. Kinship in the present and in the future
7. Separating life from death
8. Working for the dead
9. Conclusion
Notes
List of references
Index.

Subject Areas: Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC]