SENSE AND SENSIBILITIES: NEGOTIATING MEANINGS WITHIN AGRICULTURE IN NORTHEASTERN MADAGASCAR

Abstract

The agroforestry fields of small-scale farmers in the Mananara region of Northeastern Madagascar are places where materials, meanings, and knowledge overlap. These cultivated landscapes assist individuals to balance the environmental “sense” of scientific epistemologies that emphasize experimen­tation and development with the more emotive “sensibilities” of tradition, where spirits and ancestors exercise a key role in conceiving worldviews. These two frameworks are epitomized by two Malagasy terms for landscapes—tany (land) and tontolo’ianiana (environment). Each of these carries its own underlying knowledge, meanings, moralities, consciousness, and practices. The sensibilities of tany create landscapes in particular that interact with mundane spaces, while the senses of environment create landscapes in general that emphasize excep­tional spaces. Rather than presenting individuals with an either/or choice, the two frameworks create a spectrum of strategies that adapt over time. Exam­ining agroforestry spaces as places where individuals cultivate both material and ideological resources complicates the ethnographic divide between agri­culture and forest environments and illustrates the mutually constitutive spaces of nature and culture.