Antaifasy
Total population | |
---|---|
c. 150,000 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Malagasy groups, Bantu peoples, Austronesian peoples |
The Antaifasy ("people of the sands") are an
History
The origins of the Antaifasy are uncertain.[1] Beginning in the 1680s, the Antaifasy entered into a conflict with the neighboring
In 1827, the Antaifasy kingdom was invaded by the
The Antaifasy remained resistant to Merina domination and were never fully subjugated. In an effort to weaken them, the Merina provided support to the Zafisoro, a people who the Antaifasy had previously ruled. Despite French colonization in 1896 and the collapse of the Merina monarchy in 1897, animosity between the two groups has remained and occasionally flared up into violent conflict, as occurred in 1922, 1936 and 1990, resulting in dozens of deaths.[6] During the Malagasy Uprising of 1947, the Malagasy leaders of the resistance movement against French rule (some of whom were aligned with Merina interests) took advantage of the unstable political context to act on old grudges by instigating the Zafisoro to attack the Antaifasy.In the run up to independence from France, two Antefasy brothers founded l'Union Démocratique et Sociale (1957), one of the most successful cross-island political parties. Their representatives took the top position in the Provincial Councils of Tuléar and Fianarantsoa. One of the party's founders, Norbert Zafimahova, was twice elected as president of the Territorial Assembly, delegated to represent Madagascar's interests in the French Senate in 1958.[7][8] Since 1990, this has manifested in competition for control of disputed territory, the most significant being in Farafangana prefecture.[9]
Society
There are approximately 150,000 Antaifasy as of 2013.[10] Their name means "people of the sand." Antaifasy society is traditionally divided into three clans, each governed by its own king:[11] the Randroy, Andrianseranana and Marofela.[1]
Culture
The moral codes that guide Antaifasy social life are very strict.[11]
Traditional clothing among the Antaifasy was made of bark cloth or woven mats of beaten reeds or sedges sewn together. The bark cloth from the Antaifasy region was made from a mix of fibers blended together for sheen and softness and became a specialty trade product of the area. For women, this material was sewn to form a tube that was belted at the waist or pulled up at the shoulder. Women and adolescent girls also often wore a mahampy reed band or short top with or without sleeves, to cover the breasts. Men wore a bark loincloth, and over it they would typically wear a vest or tunic; sleeves were added for older men. Woven hats were also commonly worn by Antaifasy men.[12]
Funeral rites
Like the Antaisaka, the Antaifasy do not bury their dead but instead place them in a kibory funeral house located in a sacred and distant patch of forest.[13]
Language
The Antaifasy speak a dialect of the Malagasy language, which is a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the Barito languages, spoken in southern Borneo.
Economy
The cultivation of rice and fishing from freshwater lakes and rivers are traditional sources of livelihoods among the Antaifasy.[11] In recent decades, there has been a large migration of Antaifasy from their coastal homeland to seek employment farther north.[14]
Notes
- ^ a b Auzias & Labourdette 2013, p. 72.
- ^ Ogot 1999, p. 435.
- ^ Huyghues-Belrose 2001, p. 418.
- ^ Campbell 2012, p. 815.
- ^ Campbell 2013, p. 2.
- ^ Raison-Jourde & Randrianja 2002, p. 25.
- ^ Thompson & Adloff 1965, p. 258.
- ^ Raison-Jourde & Randrianja 2002, p. 328.
- ^ Raison-Jourde & Randrianja 2002, p. 406.
- ^ Diagram Group 2013.
- ^ a b c Bradt & Austin 2007, p. 24.
- ^ Condra 2013, p. 458.
- ^ Bradt & Austin 2007, p. 23.
- ^ Olson 1996, p. 31.
References
- Auzias, Dominique; Labourdette, Jean-Paul (2013). Madagascar 2014-2015 (in French). Paris: Petit Futé. ISBN 978-2746969728.
- Bradt, Hilary; Austin, Daniel (2007). Madagascar (9th ed.). Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. ISBN 978-1-84162-197-5.
- Campbell, Gwyn (2013). Abolition and Its Aftermath in the Indian Ocean, Africa and Asia. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-77078-5.
- Campbell, Gwyn (2012). David Griffiths and the Missionary "History of Madagascar". Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-19518-9.
- Condra, Jill (2013). Encyclopedia of National Dress: Traditional Clothing Around the World. Los Angeles: ABC Clio. ISBN 978-0-313-37637-5.
- Diagram Group (2013). Encyclopedia of African Peoples. San Francisco, CA: Routledge. ISBN 9781135963415.
- Huyghues-Belrose, Vincent (2001). Les premiers missionnaires protestants de Masdagascar, (1795–1827) (in French). Paris: Karthala Editions. ISBN 2845861338.
- Ogot, Bethwell (1999). Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Paris: UNESCO. ISBN 978-0-85255-095-3.
- Olson, James (1996). The Peoples of Africa: An Ethnohistorical Dictionary. Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0-313-27918-8.
- Raison-Jourde, Françoise; Randrianja, Solofo (2002). La nation malgache au défi de l'ethnicité (in French). Paris: Karthala. ISBN 978-2-84586-304-0.
- Thompson, Virginia; Adloff, Richard (1965). The Malagasy Republic: Madagascar Today. San Francisco, CA: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-0279-9.