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  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. People of the Sea
  • Cited by 103
  • Rita Astuti, London School of Economics and Political Science
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
October 2009
Print publication year:
1995
Online ISBN:
9780511521041
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511521041
Subjects:
Social Psychology, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Anthropology, Psychology
Series:
Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology (95)
Information

Book description

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.

Reviews

"The book should be read by anyone interested in theories of ethnicity or identity. Enormously suggestive for Malagasy studies, the relevance of Astuti's arguments concerning kinship, descent, and death extend far beyond Madagascar" American Anthropologist

"The book provides an unusual combination of cool analysis with warm description." Michael Lambek, American Anthropologist

"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

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