About the people:History, identity, and culture |
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Myth and LegendMany people in Madagascar class Mikea among the "tompontany taloha" (past landowners), folkloric beings thought to have inhabited Madagascar before the arrival of the proto-Malagasy from Indonesia and Africa. Some believe Mikea to be Vazimba, ghosts or living relicts of a primitive people. Others believe them to be Hako ("hiders"), or Lampihazo (literally "tree huggers"), subhuman forest creatures who lack society, language, or technology. The people who call themselves Mikea today are not Vazimba, Hako, or Lampihazo. Mikea are Malagasy people. They speak the Malagasy language and share many customs and beliefs with other Malagasy. |
Who are Mikea? |
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"Mikea" is a social identity of southwestern Madagascar. Mikea are not an ethnic group or a tribe. According to local accounts, a Mikea is anyone who lives in the forest by hunting and gathering.
But Mikea identity is more complex than this. People who call themselves "Mikea" also say that they are Masikoro or Vezo (the neighboring peoples), or both. Some Mikea live in permanent agricultural villages and do very little hunting and gathering. I have not met any Mikea households who are specialized hunter-gatherers; all households combine foraging and fishing with agriculture, herding, and market activities. In fact, Mikea, Masikoro, and Vezo households practice a similar mixed economy. So what makes someone "Mikea?" Read on to find out! The research discussed here occurs in the "Mikea Forest" or Alamikea, a dry tropical forest north of the provincial capital of Toliara. There may be other people who call themselves Mikea living throughout southern and western Madagascar. |
Foragers with herder social organization? |
| Mikea social organization is quite different from that of other African hunter-gatherers, such as Hadza of Tanzania or Ju/'hoansi San of Botswana. Hadza and San do not have clans, and after marriage a couple sets up its own household rather than living with parents. |
| Mikea social organization more closely resembles that of other East African herders, such as Nuer and Dinka of Sudan or Kipsigis of Kenya. Among Mikea, patrilineal clan membership is very important. Cattle symbolize the clan's link between its living and ancestral members, and are sacrificed in ceremonies. Cattle are wealth. For a man to marry, his clan must give cattle to his bride's clan. This "bridewealth" compensates the bride's clan for the fact that her children will belong to her husband's clan. After marriage, newlyweds are supposed to live with the groom's father's family. When children are born, the father must perform a "rite of filiation" (involving cattle sacrifice) to tell the ancestors that the children belong to his clan. Mikea claim to have fewer cattle today than in the past, so some of these traditions are changing; yet the ideals of patrilineal inheritance and patrilocal postmarital residence remain. |
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Mikea Oral HistoryMikea oral historians explain why their social organization resembles that of herders. Mikea are descended from herders. Mikea oral historians recount how their Masikoro and Vezo ancestors sought refuge in the Mikea Forest during the past four or more centures to escape interpersonal conflicts, political problems, and food shortage. I think that the purported identity of Mikea, Masikoro, and Vezo as hunter-gatherers, herders, and fishers respectively, symbolizes relationships with precolonial kingdoms rather than economic specializations. During the 17th through 19th centuries, powerful kings of the Andrevola Dynasty raided each other for territory, cattle, and slaves, and periodically warred against neighboring kingdoms, the Sakalava, Mahafale, and Tandroy. For Masikoro, herding symbolizes their status as loyal, tribute-paying subjects. Vezo evaded domination by sailing out to sea and living off the ocean, while Mikea fled the kings into the forest. For Mikea, hunting-and-gathering symbolizes self-sufficiency and political autonomy. The word "Mikea" may come from the phrase tsy meky hea, which means "do not want to be pursued." More Masikoro and Vezo "went Mikea" during French colonialism (1895-1960), to avoid taxation and mandatory public labor. A colonial policy forcibly resettled nomadic foragers and herders into permanent villages. Their descendants live in farming villages and rarely forage, yet still call themselves Mikea. |
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Religious beliefs |
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Like all Malagasy, Mikea believe in one god, Ndranahare (called Zanahary elsewere in Madagascar); ancestors mediate between the living and the supernatural world. Some Mikea have converted to Christianity or Islam, but in most cases they still practice traditional customs, especially those associated with their clan. There are three sources of supernatural power. 1. Clan membership. Mikea belong to the same clans as their Vezo and Masikoro neighbors. The male clan head or mpitokazomanga invokes ancestors at special ceremonies through cattle (or sometimes goat) sacrifice with the aid of clan relics. Clan ceremonies include the following:
The musicians in this photo make their living by performing at these ceremonies. Their instruments, called besogady, are recent copies of guitars. The traditional stringed instruments (jejolava, etc.) are no longer played. |
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2. Ambiasa (called ombiasy elsewhere in Madagascar) are diviners who can see the past, present, future, or events in the supernatural world through a practice called sikily, in which special seeds are cast on the ground. An ambiasa's vision comes from the purportedly non-random patterns the seeds make. Some ambiasa practice black magic (vorike) to harm others. Ambiasa are almost always male. 3. Tromba is a spirit possession ceremony. Some individuals are contacted early in life by spirits (doany) who accompany them throughout life. Doany may be known ancestors, deceased Portugese sailors, Arab traders, French colonialists, or forest spirits (konko). Some tromba media are male, but the majority seem to be female. Clans, families, and individuals may be protected by aoly, magic. For aoly to maintain its potency, people must follow specific taboos called faly. Most Mikea are faly for sheep and pork; many are faly for chicken. Mikea do not worship baobab trees, as some accounts have claimed.
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