Description
Book SynopsisPolitical Oratory and Cartooning
An Ethnography of Democratic Processes in Madagascar
Insightful, detailed, and substantial, this book has much to say to students of language and followers of politics, not to mention those of us passionate about both and how they interact.
Virginia R. Dominguez, Gutgsell Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Why don't more people write books like this? Jennifer Jackson's brilliant insights on Malagasy cartooning, oratory, and political culture are not only a breath of fresh air for the anthropological study of political language, but a genuinely creative contribution to the study of global democracy.
David Graeber, Goldsmiths, University of London
Called kabary in the island nation of Madagascar, political oratory jostles with political cartoon satire in competing for public attention and shaping opinion. The apparent simplicity of these modes of political commentary concea
Trade Review
"It is highly recommended to all and Wiley-Blackwell should be persuaded to circulate a reasonably priced paper edition immediately.” (American Ethnologist, 16 February 2014)
Table of ContentsList of Figures viii
Note on Orthography x
Acknowledgments xi
Preface xiv
1 Introduction: “Look Out! The Sleeping Locusts Awake” 1
2 A History of Language and Politics in Madagascar 18
3 The Structural and Social Organization of Kabary Politika 65
4 The Structural and Social Organization of Kisarisary Politika (Political Cartooning) 92
5 Building Publics through Interanimating and Shifting Registers 117
6 “Stop Acting Like a Slave”: The Ideological and Aesthetic Dimensions of Syntax and Register in Political Kabary and Political Cartooning 157
7 “That’s What You Think”: Arguing Representations of Truth in Language 193
8 Conclusion: The Constraints and Possibilities of Democracy 214
Index 241
