Masikoro

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The Masikoro are a group of farmers and herders who inhabit areas surrounding the Mikea Forest, a patch of mixed spiny forest and dry deciduous forest along the coast of southwestern Madagascar in Toliara Province. Along with Vezo and Mikea, the Masikoro are Sakalava people, the difference being that Masikoro are of the land, Vezo are of the sea, and Mikea are of the forest. [1]

Contents

Ethnicity

Some 90,000 of the Masikoro people, mainly concentrated in the districts of Toliara and Morombe, speak the Masikoro-Malagasy language, a dialect of the Malagasy language. [2] At one time there was a Masikoro kingdom with a king ruling the territory. Masikoro according to some means "Those dressed in clothing made from rushes". [3] The Masikoro belong ethnically to the Sakalava people along with the Mikea and the Vezo fishermen, [4] which trade products caught, foraged or cultivated in the forest among themselves. Some of the clan names are shared between the Masikoro and Mikea peoples. [5]

Economy

As agropastoralists, the Masikoro typically raise cattle and cultivate maize [6] and manioc "semi-intensively on a 12-to 15-month schedule". [7] [8] Weekly markets are held in villages of the Masikoro people in which the Mikea trade their products made from the forest such as honey, tambotrika, [lower-alpha 1] tavolo powder, and ovy. [6] Masikoro sell maize, manioc and rice from carts in Belo. [10]

Culture

Historically, Sakalava kings resided among the Masikoro, rather than the Vezo, as the Masikoro have had more power and a larger population. [11] It was important for the king to have a reliable boat available for transport, so if a Masikoro damaged a Vezo canoe, the punishment was beheading. [12] Masikoro have "long, curly hair; high and broad foreheads; large and deep-set eyes; and wide nostrils". [13] The women pound maize and rise on a daily basis, which calluses the thumb base. [14] Funerals may continue for weeks or even longer. [15]

Notes

  1. ↑ Tambotrika is a species of Tenrec that weighs about 0.4 kilograms (0.88 lb). It is caught year round, and is an important source of flesh. [9]

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The Mikea are a group of Malagasy-speaking horticulturalists and foragers who are often described as the lowland hunter-gatherers of Madagascar. They inhabit the Mikea Forest, a patch of mixed spiny forest and dry deciduous forest along the coast of southwestern Madagascar. The Mikea are predominantly of Sakalava origin, although the term describes a lifestyle rather than an ethnic group per se, and individuals from a variety of Malagasy ethnic groups are found among the Mikea. The family encampments of the Mikea shift from prime corn planting territory at the edge of the forest in the rainy season to the interior forest rich with tenrecs and other game in the dry season, when the community becomes highly dependent on spongy tubers to meet their daily demand for water. Their lifestyle is interdependent with that of their neighboring Vezo fishermen and the Masikoro farmers and herders, with whom they trade products caught, foraged or cultivated in the forest. Many Mikea also occasionally engage in paid work such as guarding the zebu herds or tending the corn fields of others.

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References

  1. ↑ Goedefroit 1998, p. 82.
  2. ↑ International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE - Esperanto. Oxford University Press. 2003. p. 205. ISBN   978-0-19-513977-8.
  3. ↑ Powe 1994, p. 204.
  4. ↑ Bradt 2011, p. 203.
  5. ↑ African Study Monographs. Research Committee for African Area Studies. 1998. p. 136.
  6. 1 2 Lee & Daly 1999, p. 217.
  7. ↑ Michigan, Susan A. Gelman Frederick G. L. Huetwell Professor of Psychology University of (20 March 2003). The Essential Child : Origins of Essentialism in Everyday Thought: Origins of Essentialism in Everyday Thought. Oxford University Press. p. 103. ISBN   978-0-19-803505-3.
  8. ↑ Kennett, Douglas J.; Winterhalder, Bruce (1 January 2006). Behavioral Ecology and the Transition to Agriculture. University of California Press. p. 23. ISBN   978-0-520-24647-8.
  9. ↑ Lee & Daly 1999, p. 216.
  10. ↑ Astuti 1995, p. 56.
  11. ↑ Walen 1881, p. 7.
  12. ↑ Walen 1881, p. 60.
  13. ↑ Walen 1881, p. 8.
  14. ↑ Astuti 1995, p. 41.
  15. ↑ Astuti 1995, p. 51.

Sources

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