Tantaran’ny Velondriake

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Historical Archaeology in the Indian Ocean" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In this paper we describe a collaboration between environmental archaeologists and Vezo historians from the Velondriake region of southwest Madagascar. The project aims to integrate archaeological data from surveys and excavations and oral histories pertaining to Vezo livelihoods, settlements and migrations, in order to reconstruct the co-evolution of human communities and the land- and seascapes of the southwest coast. Historians in 30 coastal communities participated in the project, making it the most extensive effort to record Vezo oral histories to-date. The emerging picture of Velondriake’s past is one of frequent migration and livelihood flexibility in the face of changing ecological, climatic and socio-economic conditions. Our collaborative efforts are creating possibilities for the investigation of the region’s past to be driven by local interests and agendas and for research outcomes to benefit local, descendant and indigenous communities.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Historical Archaeology in the Indian Ocean

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 836