The King's Men in Madagascar: slavery, citizenship and Sakalava monarchy
- 1 April 1982
- journal article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Africa
- Vol. 52 (2) , 31-50
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1159140
Abstract
Opening Paragraph: The ‘great songs’ (antsa maventy) with which Sakalava praise their royalty extol them as unique and precious beings in whom all wealth in persons and things is, or eventually will be, concentrated, causing them to grow enormously and inexhaustibly fat, yet ever greedy for more. Solely because of their ancestry, their houses will be royal residences, their hats will be royal headdresses with special names. Above all, their people will be human beings owing allegiance only to monarchy, labouring only for monarchy. There may be indifferent or unwilling ones, as well as those who are eager to pay homage to the royal ancestors, but ultimately royalty will possess them all: ‘Royalty enslaves, royalty enslaves, royalty enslaves . . .’.Keywords
This publication has 5 references indexed in Scilit:
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- Divine Kingship and the Meaning of History Among the Sakalava of MadagascarMan, 1978
- Tsimihety Kinship and DescentAfrica, 1967
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