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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 May 2014
In the 1820s, when Imerina expanded to control most of Madagascar, remarkably few Merina rose in organized opposition to the king's extensive plans to change basic social and political relations. Tradition conferred sacred legitimacy on innovative royal interpretations of ideology and secured public consent with little resort to force. Potential conflicts between the king and Merina elites were muted by negotiations that proceeded within the premises of traditional ideology. As the king managed to monopolize organized force, occasional acts of violence assured that royal views of ideology dominated all others.
King Radama occupied the central position in the stream of blessing that ran from Imerina's collective ancestors downwards through him to all living Merina. As the ultimate living representative of all long-dead ancestors, he had the power to dispense their good will in the form of “superior” hasina in exchange for his subjects' offerings of “inferior” hasina. As mediator between heaven and earth, Radama alone determined how Imerina's hasina ideology would apply to the vicissitudes of everyday life. Merina, however, saw the reality that he created not merely as the product of human agency, but of ancestral beneficence as well. Since opposition to royal will implied the rejection of ancestral beneficence, attempts within Imerina to challenge the monarch's authority or the ideology on which it rested were rare indeed. Yet such cases of opposition did arise, and they reveal the nature of royal authority as seen from below.
1 Berg, G. M.“Virtù and Fortuna in Radama's Nascent Bureaucracy,” HA, 23 (1996), 30–33.Google Scholar For historical ethnographies of hasina see Delivré, Alain, L'histoire des rois d'Interina. 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; Berg, G. M., “Royal Authority and the Protector System in Early Nineteenth Century Imerina” in Kent, R. K., ed., Madagascar in History (Berkeley, 1979), 102–22Google Scholar; Berg, G. M., “The Sacred Musket: Tactics, Technology, and Power in Eighteenth–century Imerina,” Comparative Studies in Society and History, 27 (1985), 261–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2 Coppalle, André, Voyage dans l'intérieur de Madagascar et à la capitale du roi Radama pendant les années 1825 et 1826 [Port-Louis: 10 November 1827]Google Scholar (London and Mauritius:1828), copy made in 1909 from a signed manuscript from Coppalle's papers by de Froberville, E. in Bulletin de l'Académie malgache (henceforth BAM), 7 (1909), 7–46Google Scholar; 8 (1910), 25–67; reprinted with map of itinerary as Voyage à la capitale du roi Radama, 1825–1826. (Journal de A. Coppalle) (Antananarivo, 1970), 56.Google Scholar On Coppalle see Berthier, H., “De l'usage de l'Arabico–malgache en Imerina au début du XIXe siècle. La cahier d'écriture de Radama I,” Mémoires de l'Académie malgache, 16 (1934).Google Scholar
3 This formulation of ideology concurs in some degree with Thompson, J. B., Studies in the Theory of Ideology (Berkeley, 1984), 35Google Scholar, who maintains that the study of ideology should focus on “the ways in which meaning (signification) serves to sustain relations of domination.” I have reservations, however, concerning his proposition (ibid., 128–29) that ideology necessarily implies domination, since the object of its concern is power, and power “is the ability to act in pursuit of one's aims and interests.” His definition of ideology, it seems, relies on tautology, and his characterization of power is too broad to apply to historical analysis.
4 The following description of the ody/sampy complex is drawn from Berg, “Royal Authority.” See also Domenichini, , introduction to Histoire des Palladium. Texte bilingue (Antananarivo, 1971)Google Scholar, and Françoise Raison-Jourde, “De la restauration des talismans royaux au baptême de 1869 en Imerina,” in idem., ed., Les Souverains de Madagascar (Paris, 1983), 337–69.
5 These testimonies are drawn from Tantara ny Andriana eto Madagaskara, ed. Callet, François, first edition of 1873–1902 (Antananarivo, 1908)Google Scholar (henceforth TA) collected during the 1870s and from Lars Vig, Manuscript Notebooks, Archives, Norske Misjonsskolen, Madagassisk Afguder, RUM C. Avd VIII-1, No. 10,275, ed. and trans. Domenichini, J.-P., Histoire de Palladium d'Imerina. Text bilingue (Antananarivo, 1971)Google Scholar, collected in the 1870s and 1880s. On the social environment surrounding their collection, see Délivré, , Histoire, 130–38.Google Scholar I have excluded from consideration Grandidier's collection, Manuscripts des Ombiasy (Musée de l'Homme), following Delivré's indication (Histoire, 83, 362n49) of their unreliability. For TA, Delivré (ibid., 67) has deduced the testimonies' provenance in geographical terms, but the social status of the performers remains elusive. Delivré maintains (ibid., 136) that Imerina as a whole was, in the 1870s, little effected by Christian teaching, though close examination of texts concerning personal protectors (ody) suggest that its authors viewed Merina religion as outsiders. One states that the ody “seem to be charms” (TA, 178) while another states that the ody are “only bits of wood” (TA, 179). Since testimonies throughout the TA vary considerably as to their provenance, however, it would be unwise to characterize them as a whole, except to indicate, following Delivré, that the provenance of a large portion of the texts can be located geographically in northern Imerina. On problems concerning the method of determining geographical provenance see Berg, G. M., “Some Words about Merina Historical Texts” in Miller, Joseph C., ed., The African Past Speaks (Folkestone, 1980), 237.Google Scholar On the Vig manuscript we have more clues concerning provenance. Collected during the 1870s and 1880s, its testimonies came from southern Imerina and so provide a useful contrast to TA. Vig's informants are variously described as “an old man who is a Christian,” an “old idol priest now a good Christian,” and an “old heathen.” See Vig, Letter 30 December 1887, in Norske Misjons Tidende, no. 43 (1888), 255, 276, 277.Google Scholar I am indebted to Pastors M. Furuly and M. Haus of Stavanger, Norway for their help in the archives of the Norske Misjonsskolen and to Kjetil Aano for his translation of Norwegian sources. On aspects of the Vig manuscript see Berg, , “Royal Authority,” 118n 3Google Scholar; and Berg, “Some Words,” 234n9.
6 Vig, , Manuscript Notebooks in Domenicini, Palladium, 122, ¶152Google Scholar: “Izy telo ireo dia tena iray hiany, fa ny lohany sy ny anarany no samy hafa, nefa atao hoe: Kelimalaza Andriamanitra hiany fanononana azy mitambatra.” The illustration is not reproduced in the 1971 edition.
7 Lonsdale, John, “States and Social Processes in Africa: A Historiographical Survey,” African Studies Review, 24 (1981), 160CrossRefGoogle Scholar, referring to symbolic representations of ideology.
8 Vig, , Manuscript Notebooks in Domenicini, Palladium, 223–33.Google Scholar
9 Vig, Manuscript Notebooks in ibid.m 224, line 86: “son of God” = zanak' Andriamanitra.
10 Gouhot, , “Mémoire historique” (1843)Google Scholar, Centre des Archives d'outre–mer, Madagascar géographique (henceforth CAOM–MG), 145/202, p. 99; and TA, 1087–88.
11 See G. M. Berg “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army,” forthcoming.
12 The term “skilled performance” is derived from Giddens, Anthony, New Rules of Sociological Method: A Positive Critique of Interpretative Sociologies (London, 1976), 126, 160Google Scholar, who emphasizes conscious human agency in shaping ideology within historical context.
13 TA, 1104: “Taminy Laidama… dia ny sampy mba efa napetrany; fa Manjakatsiroa tsy azony apetraka. Tsy dia poporohana ny ambaniandro, fa izay ta–hanao no manao… Hoy Laidama mantsy ny sampy: ‘Samy manamasina ny azy ao an–trano; na apetrako aza ny sampy, samy mifidy ny azy.’”
14 Chapus, G.S. and Ratsimba, Emmanuel, Histoire des rois. Traduction du Tanlaran'ny Andriana du R.P. Callet (5 vols.: Antananarivo, 1974–1978), 5:61–62.Google Scholar
15 For example, see the narrative of Andriamasinavalona's destruction of the Matsatso sampy in TA, 178; and the bitter conflict between Andrianampoinimerina and the Kelimalaza sampy in TA, 173.
16 Coppalle, , Voyage/1970, 74Google Scholar; and Jones, , et al., Journal (1823), LMS-Journals, I/7, pp. 51–52.Google Scholar
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18 TA, 1104: “Tsy misy andriamanitra fa izaho andriamanitra.”
19 TA, 173–75, 500; Vig, Manuscript Notebooks/1971, 28–34, 57–59. On the historical process by which guardians became allies of kings see Berg, “Royal Authority.”
20 See Berg, , “Virtù,” 59–60.Google Scholar
21 Griffiths, , Journal (1822)Google Scholar, LMS-Journals, I/4 (entry of 26 May) noted that pigs were not allowed within 30 miles of the capital. Jeffreys, , Journal (1823)Google Scholar, LMS-Journals, I/6 (entry of 21 February) for the suspension of the prohibition against pigs; Jones, , et al., Journal (1823), LMS-Journals, I/7 (entry of 25 Sept. 1823) pp. 49–51Google Scholar, observed that Ambohimanambola and Ambohimanga were the only villages in Imerina where “pigs are not allowed to enter after the new law was made last year.”
22 TA, 1105. A similar conflict took place during Ranavalona's reign in April 1829, between Robert Lyall, the new British agent, and the Ramahavaly guardians. See Freeman to Hankey (16 April 1829), LMS-LI, III/RED.
23 TA, 1105: “Izaho tsy vazaha intsony fa gasy.”
24 See Cameron, James, Recollections of Mission Life in Madagascar During the Early Days of the L.M.S. Mission (Antananarivo, 1874)Google Scholar; Coppalle, Voyage/1970, 46; Capt.Jourdain, J. P. P., “Notice sur les Ovas” (1830), Nouvelles Annales des Voyages, 3/4 (1839), 12Google Scholar; Tyerman, D. and Bennet, G., Journal of Voyages and Travels by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet (1828) ed. Montgomery, James (2 vols.: London, 1831), 2:541–42Google Scholar; TA, 1110–11, 1063.
25 TA, 1111: “Azon'ny Vazaha hery isika…”.
26 TA, 1112 which notes that “borozano,” conscripted royal administrators, not the talisman guardians, had been assigned the task of collecting the recently levied taxes. This new group, close to the king, was an additional source of anxiety for the talisman guardians
27 Berg, G. M., “Riziculture and the Founding of Monarchy in Imerina,” JAH, 22 (1981), 289–308CrossRefGoogle Scholar; idem., “Royal Authority.”
28 On wheat see Hastie, , “Journal” (1823])Google Scholar in Tyerman, and Bennet, , Journal, 2:57.Google Scholar For the botanical surveys conducted by Lyall, see Freeman to Hankey (16 April 1829), LMS-LI, III/RED.
29 Lan, David, Guns and Rain. Guerrillas and Spirit Mediums in Zimbabwe (Berkeley, 1985), 143–44.Google Scholar
30 Berg, “Sacred Musket.”
31 Berg “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army.”
32 Lan, , Guns, 146–48Google Scholar; Ellis, Stephen, The Rising of the Red Shawls (Cambridge, 1985).Google Scholar It would be interesting to know if, after ZANLA came to power, mhondoro mediums changed their attitudes toward new agricultural techniques. In northwestern Madagascar a similar tactic was employed by those Sakalava who tended the royal compounds and tombs in the 1970s. European manufactured goods were prohibited in an effort to maintain the distinctions between Sakalava and Europeans. See Feeley–Harnik, Gillian, A Green Estate. Restoring Independence in Madagascar (Baltimore, 1991), 328–34.Google Scholar Their rejection of Western clothing and manufactures also reflect vulnerability to foreign power, in this case the central government. By the 1970s Sakalava political power was an ancient memory. Again, as in the Dande case, it would be interesting to know if this symbolic rejection varied directly with the fortunes of Sakalava power; if their tomb guardians accepted foreign manufactures in the area of their royal tombs and compounds at the height of their political power in the eighteenth century.
33 See Berg, “Ideology and Innovation in Radama's Army.” Haas includes the creation of a “specialized police force” as a signal turning point in the creation of states and assumes that it is a necessary tool of labor control. See Haas, J., The Evolutions of the Prehistoric State (New York, 1982), 175–78.Google Scholar In Imerina, however, the role of ideology in maintaining order and securing the loyalty of laborers was critical. Radama's power to control labor rested on the authority conferred on Merina rulers by hasina ideology. For a summary of the complementary roles of coercion and consensus in the creation of states see Lonsdale, , “States and Social Processes,” 168.Google Scholar
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35 Campbell also suggests that Radama overcame objections to the treaty by promising the elite wealth and honor from imperial conquests. See Campbell, Gwyn, “The Adoption of Autarky in Imperial Madagascar, 1820–1835,” JAH, 28(1987), 399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36 Jones to Bogue (3 Nov. 1820), LMS-LI, I/2/B; and Radama to Freycinet (Nov. 1820), CAOM-MG, 12/26. See as well Berg, “Virtù.”
37 TA, 1063.
38 Lyall, , Journal (1827)Google Scholar, British Library, Add. Ms. 34408, fol. 35r.
39 Thompson, , Studies, 131.Google Scholar For a theoretical formulation of the relation between coercion and ideology see Haas, , Evolution, 179–80Google Scholar, who follows in the tradition of Sahlins and Fried. His assumption that physical coercion is an alternative to ideology does not seem as appropriate for the Merina case as Thompson's.
40 Farquhar to Radama (15 Dec. 1821), British Library, Add. Ms. 41265, fol. 58v; Jeffreys to Arundel (8 May 1822), LMS-LI, I/3/C; TA, 1078–80, 1102; Hilsenberg, and Bojer, , “Sketch…” [1823], ed. Valette, (1965), 310Google Scholar; Tyerman, and Bennet, , Journal, 2:502–03.Google Scholar On Ratefy see Hastie lo Griffiths (18 Feb. 1821), LMS-LI, I/2/B, pp. 39–40; Anon., Letter (ca. 1818), British Library Add. Ms. 18135, p. 268; Ayache, Simon, “La découverte de l'Europe par les Malgaches au XIXe siècle,” Revue française d'histoire d'outre–mer 73 (1986), 11–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar On Rafaralahy see Valette, Jean, “Le voyage de Rafaralahy–Andriantiana à Maurice (1821–1822),” BAM, 42 (1964), 2–12.Google Scholar
41 Unfortunately, the identities and social status of the protesting women are unknown.
42 Berg, , “Some Words,” 221–26Google Scholar; idem., “The Myth of Racial Strife and Merina Kinglists,” HA, 4(1977), 1–30; TA 768, 924; Capt.Lewis, Locke, “An Account of the Ovahs, a race of people residing in the Interior of Madagascar: with a Sketch of their Country, Appearance, Dress, Language, etc.” [ca. 1825], Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, 5 (1835), 232Google Scholar; and Jeffreys, Ketura, The Widowed Missionary's Journal; Containing Some Account of Madagascar: And also A Narrative of the Missionary Career of the Rev. J. Jeffreys (Southampton, 1827), 133.Google Scholar
43 Bloch, , From Blessings, 90–104.Google Scholar
44 When a woman became the monarch of Imerina only a few years later, she expended considerable energy to reverse these trends. See Berg, , “Writing Ideology. Ranavalona, the Ancestral Bureaucrat,” HA, 22 (1995), 1–36.Google Scholar
45 Griffiths, , Journal (19 July 1822)Google Scholar, LMS-J, I/4, entry of 15 April; Canham to Burder (2 May 1823), LMS-LI, I/5/A; and Hastie to Southern Committee (17 March 1825), LMS-LI, II/2/A. Though the identities and social status of these women are unknown, it is probable that they belonged to high-status families associated with the king, since admission to LMS schools affected only those specifically designated by Radama as worthy of reward for meritorious service to the Crown.
46 Bloch, , From Blessings… (1986), 173–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
47 See Berg, , “Virtù,” 51–60.Google Scholar
48 A few examples of the latter may be found in Hilsenberg and Bojer, , “Sketch/1965,” 338Google Scholar; Hastie (1824), in Vérin, Pierre, “Le voyage des Reverends Tyerman et Bennet à Madagascar, 1828,” BAM, 43 (1965), 56, 61Google Scholar; and Coppalle, , Voyage/1970, 59.Google Scholar
49 Berg, “Sacred Musket.”
50 Bloch, , From Blessings, 178–87Google Scholar, suggests that ritual language admits no alternative meanings and implies that ideology is solely defined by ritual. My discussion instead sees ritual enactment of ideology as but one of many means of ideological expression that were open to controversy.
