The political ecology of conflict and control in Ankarana, Madagascar.

Abstract

The goal of the dissertation is to show the relevance of politics to ecology by studying how rights to manage and use the environment are continuously negotiated by social groups with different interests and access to power. Many conflicts in the Ankarana region of Madagascar center around resources used for agriculture and income generation. The case of one villager's murdered cattle illustrates the dynamics of multi-village conflicts and tensions between herding and agriculture in the region. Fictive kinship becomes the key to resolving the conflict before extra-village authorities are called in to mediate. The monarchical politico-religious system based in the southern part of the region has its own distinctive areas of jurisdiction in presiding over royal ceremony and over disputes about the handling of fomba (which can be translated as "custom" or "tradition"), but its leaders have recently emphasized historical rights to managing land and other resources in the area as well. Conflict has arisen as different parties--including the Antankarana royal leader, the commoners and royal family of the region and an international conservation organization--have claimed rights to land based on different mandates--divine historical right, the precedent of use, and the need to protect. The dissertation shows how political negotiations are active in social organization, cultural expression as well as in formal political settings. Individuals and social groups use different means to claim and to deliberate access to the physical environment. From the perspective of political ecology, a study of human ecology is incomplete without examining this political dimension of resource management.