Table of Contents

List 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

About the Author

Jennifer Jackson is Assistant Professor in the Anthropology Department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Since 1994, her research has focused on Madagascar and the US, spanning studies in semiotics, language ideologies and aesthetics, and verbal and visual artistic performance in political practice related to the formation of democracy, civil society, and statehood.

Reviews

"It is highly recommended to all and Wiley-Blackwell should bepersuaded to circulate a reasonably priced paper editionimmediately. (American Ethnologist, 16 February2014)