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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
“I suppose pedigree and land belong to a fine match,” said Deronda coldly. “The best horse will win in spite of pedigree, my boy. You remember Napoleon's moi-je suis ancêtre,” said Sir Hugo, who habitually undervalued birth, as men dining well agree that the good life is distributed with wonderful equality. “I am not sure I want to be an ancestor,” said Deronda. “It doesn't seem the rarest sort of origination.”
In the late eighteenth century Imerina was checkered with a myriad of tiny principalities, each ruled from hilltop fortresses. In just fifty years from 1780 to 1830, it was unified under a single ruler, drawing Merina into increasingly wider systems of obedience and creating a vast imperium that held sway over most of the island of Madagascar, a landmass the size of France, Belgium, and Holland combined.
And yet, the half century of tumultuous change that characterized the empire's rise brought no revolution in the Merina's own understanding of the world of power, a view which I have termed hasina ideology. Merina saw historical reality as the product not of human agency, but of ancestral beneficence, hasina, which flowed downwards on obedient Merina from long—of dead ancestors in a sacred stream that connected all living Merina. For obedient Merina, politics consisted in nothing more and nothing less than the lifelong quest to position oneself favorably in that sacred stream as close as possible to ancestors and then to reap the material benefits of that cherished association. Ancestors made their pleasure known by bestowing blessings, “superior” hasina, on those who honored them.
1. George Eliot, Daniel Deronda.
2. On the development of hasina ideology see Gerald M. Berg, “The Sacred Bonaparte: Ideology and Royal Power in the Merina Empire under Radama I, 1816-1828,” forthcoming.
3. For historical ethnographies of hasina see Delivré, Alain, L'histoire des rois d'Imerina. Interprétation d'une tradition orale (Paris, 1974), 140–62Google Scholar; Bloch, Maurice, “The Disconnection between Power and Rank as a Process.” Archives européennes de sociologie, 28 (1977), 124–29Google Scholar; and Berg, , “Royal Authority and the Protector System in Early Nineteenth Century Imerina” in Kent, R. K., ed., Madagascar in History (Albany, Ca., 1979), 102–22.Google Scholar
4. Callet, François, ed., Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagascar (Antananarivo, 1873–1902)Google Scholar, reference edition (Antananarivo, 1908) [henceforth TA], 425-26.
5. Berg, Gerald M., “The Sacred Musket: Tactics, Technology, and Power in Eighteenth-century Imerina,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 27 (1985), 273CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sibree to Mullens (21 October 1870), Archives of the London Missionary Society, Letters-Incoming [henceforth LMS-LI], IX/2/C; Lars Vig, Manuscript Notebooks, I-X and Ha [ca. 1875-1889?], Archives of the Norske Misjonsskolen [Stavanger], Madagassisk Afguder, RUM.C. Avd. VIII-1, Nos. 10,275-10,284, ed. and trans, Domenichini, Jean-Pierre, Histoire de Paladium d'Imerina. Text bilingue, Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie [Antananarivo], Travaux et Documents 8 (1971), 52, ¶ 123Google Scholar; and 44, ¶ 89; and “Kelimalaza” in Firaketana ny flteny sy ny zavatra malagasy(Antananarivo), 186(1957), 62–67.Google Scholar
6. I follow Vansina's attempt to describe the Bantu organization in terms of the anthropological discourse on the “big man.” See Vansina, Jan, Paths in the Rainforests. Toward a History of Political Tradition in Equatorial Africa (Madison, 1990), 73–83.Google Scholar At the same time I have reservations about his view of kinship terminology as a pretense (ibid., 97, 236).
7. See Berg, “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army,” forthcoming.
8. Sahlins, Marshall D., Islands of History (Chicago, 1985), xiii.Google Scholar Similarly, Vansina (Paths, 258), describes the relation of ideology and practice as a tension between “cognitive” and “physical” reality which produces “discrepancies” that lead to “permanent change.” I follow both Sahlins and Vansina in emphasizing the empirical quality of ideology, as opposed to Thompson, John B. in Studies in the Theory of Ideology (Berkeley, 1984)Google Scholar and Bloch, Maurice in From blessings to violence. History and ideology in the circumcision ritual of the Merina of Madagascar (Cambridge, 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar, who construct a high wall between ideology and experience. Thompson, (Studies, 56, 131)Google Scholar maintains that ideology expressed through symbols entails a “collective deception without a deceiver” in which, according to Bloch, (Blessings, 191–92)Google Scholar, the reality of domination is “hidden” by “ambiguity” in symbolic language.
9. Sahlins, , Islands, ix.Google Scholar
10. On the creation of rank and the role of tantara see Delivré, , Histoire, 163–65Google Scholar; Bloch, “Disconnection;”; Berg, Gerald M., “Some Words about Merina Historical Texts” in Miller, Joseph C., ed., The African Past Speaks (Folkestone, 1980), 228–30Google Scholar; Berg, , “Sacred Acquisition: Andrianampoinimerina at Ambohimanga,” JAH, 29 (1988), 197–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar For comparative studies on the creation of history as a function of social and political hierarchy see Trompf, “Macro-history…”; Edwards, “Mad Mullahs…”; and Brown, “Narrative Form…”; all in Comparative Studies in Society and History, 31/4 (1989), 621–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The image of Vazimba in Merina historiography is a good example of reification. See Berg, , “Some words,” 222–27Google Scholar; and Berg, , The Myth of Racial Strife and Merina Kinglists,' HA, 4 (1977), 1–30.Google Scholar The persistent attempts to forbid marriages between members of status groups often noted by early European visitors were intended to preserve distinctions in status. See for example, Hilsenberg, Charles Theodore, and Bojer, Wenceslaus, “A Sketch of the Province of Emerina [1823],” Hooker's Botanical Miscellany, 3(1832/1833), 246–75Google Scholar, ed. Valette, Jean in Bulletin de Madagascar, no. 227(1965), 317.Google Scholar
11. Hilsenberg, /Bojer, , “Sketch,” 324.Google Scholar
12. Ranavalona, letter (2 Alakaosy 1839), Archives de la République malagasy [henceforth ARM], BB6, fol. 9r-9v. Other successful appeals to Radama's rulings appear in Ranavalona, letter (4 Adizaoza 1832), ARM, BB2, fol. 67r; and Ranavalona, letter (10 Adizaoza 1832), ARM, BB2, fol. 68r. For a more complete treatment of writing as a tool of administrative efficiency see Berg, Gerald M., “Writing Ideology. Ranavalona, the Ancestral Bureaucrat,” HA, 22 (1995).Google Scholar
13. For the development of Andrianampoinimerina's administration see Berg, “The Tithe that Binds. The Ideology of Taxation in Early Imerina,” forthcoming.
14. See, for example, the cases of Andriamambavola, Rainimahay, and Rainitsimindrano in TA, 1094, 1098-99.
15. Rainigory, for example, was almost removed from his post for alleged cowardice (TA, 1098). For continuity between Andrianampoinimerina's administration and that of Radama see Ayache, Simon, Raombana l'historien (Fianarantsoa, 1976), 58.Google Scholar
16. Jones (28 April 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A.
17. See Gerald M. Berg, “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army,” forthcoming.
18. The new structures of civil and military administration are described in TA, 1062-63, 1076, 1080, 1111, 1113.
19. TA, 1076: “Raha matazo ny ahitra, dia mihintsana ny voniny.”
20. Hastie, Journal [1822], Montgomery, James, ed. Journal of Voyages by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet (2 vols.: London, 1831), 2:507–14Google Scholar, ed. Pierre Vérin, “Le voyage des Reverends Tyerman et Bennet à Madagascar, 1828,” Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 43(1965), 57.Google Scholar
21. One notable case involved Raombana, whose father, as noted below, was shot on Radama's orders and then burned alive for incompetent leadership in battle.
22. TA, 1111: “hizahako ny lehilahy mamono tena.”
23. See Berg, “Ideology.”
24. TA, 1102; and Anon [ca. 1823] in de Lacombe, B.-F. Leguével, Voyage à Madagascar et awe Iles Comores, 1823-1839 (2 vols.: Paris, 1846), 2: 54.Google ScholarSmith, Robert S., Warfare and Diplomacy in Precolonial West Africa (London, 1976), 80–88Google Scholar, notes the leading role of a royal bodyguard in the development of professional armies in precolonial West Africa.
25. See Oliver, S. P., Madagascar and the Malagasy (London, 1862), 46, 54, 60Google Scholar; Robin, , “Copie exacte de la relation de la guerre faite contre Ramitra chef des Séclaves par Sa Majesté Radama et envoyée par liu à son frère Jean-René, Commandant en chef à Tamatave” [1820], Public Record Office, London, C.O. 167/61Google Scholar, ed. Chapus, G. S., “Le journal d'une compagne de Radama I,” Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 22 (1939), 42Google Scholar; Gouhot, , Mémoire historique (1843), Archives rationales de France, Centre des Archives d'Outre-mer, Madagascar géographique [henceforth CAOM-MG], 145/202, p. 83Google Scholar; Hastie, Journal [1824], Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, n.s.4(1918/19), 174; and the discussion on the Voromahery in Radama's military campaigns in Berg, “Ideology.”
26. TA, 1075.
27. Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D; Anon [ca. 1823], in de Lacombe, Leguével, Voyage, 57Google Scholar; Freeman, J. J. and Johns, D., A Narrative of the Persecution of the Christians in Madagascar (London, 1840), 47.Google Scholar
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29. N. Leminier, Notes sur une excursion faite dans l'intérieur de l'île de Madagascar en 1825, CAOM-MG, 150/207.
30. Jeffreys to Board (26 May 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/B; and Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A.
31. Jeffreys to Board (26 May 1823), LMS-LI, I/B/B; Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A; Radama, , “Cahier d'ecriture” [?1819–1826]Google Scholar, ed. and trans. Berthier, H., Mémoires de l'Academie Malgache, 16 (1934), 23–24Google Scholar; Coppalle, André, “Voyage dans l'intérieur de Madagascar et à la capitale du roi Radama pendant les années 1825 et 1826” [1827]Google Scholar, copy made in 1909 from a signed manuscript from Coppalle's papers by de Froberville, E. in Bulletin de l'Academie Malgache, 7 (1909), 7–46Google Scholar, 8 (1910), 25-67, reprinted as Voyage à la capitale du roi Radama, 1825-1826. (Journal de A. Coppalle), Association malgache d'archéologie, Documents anciens sur Madagascar, 1 (Antananarivo, 1970), 64Google Scholar; Rainandriamampandry [ca. 1870], quoted in Nogue, L., “Etude sur l'école professionnelle de Tananarive: industries sur la soie de la tannerie, de la céramique, de la métallurgie, et de l'horlogerie,” Notes, Reconnaissances, et Explorations [Antananarivo], 6 (1900), 419.Google Scholar
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33. Campbell, , “Slavery,” 471–72.Google Scholar
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35. Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, I/5/A; and Gouhot, , Mémoire, 119.Google Scholar
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39. Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A; and Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D. See also Campbell, , “Slavery,” 468–69.Google Scholar
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42. Freeman, /Jones, , Narrative, 41.Google Scholar See also Ellis, William, History of Madagascar (2 vols.: London, 1838), 1:316Google Scholar; Vazaha, , “Slavery and Fanampoana in Madagascar,” Fortnightly Review[London], n.s. 290(1 November 1891), 708–14Google Scholar; and Coppalle, , “Voyage,” 54.Google Scholar
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57. Hastie, Journal [1822] in Tyerman/Bennett, 57; and Jones (28 April 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A.
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60. Anon. (ca. 1818), BL add. Ms. 18135, p. 268; Hastie to Griffiths (18 February 1821), LMS-LI, I/2/B; Griffiths to Arundel (20 December 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/D; Freeman, /Johns, , Narrative, 110, noteGoogle Scholar; Valette, Jean, “La mission de Lesage auprès de Radama Ier (1816-1817),” Bulletin de Madagascar, no.275(1969), 321–22Google Scholar; Munthe, , et al., “Radama,” 48n90Google Scholar; and Ayache, , Raombana, 107.Google Scholar
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108. Ibid., 115, 116.
109. Ibid., 115.
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