The Earth Shakers of Madagascar

"In the empty 'Wastelands' of south-east Madagascar intrepid homesteaders struggle to 'make the land living', striking out into the wilds and building villages and rice paddies. As this pioneering expansion turns a once-barren landscape into a fertile resource for an ever-growing number of flourishing agricultural communities, there is an increasing concern on the part of the competing resident clans to control the act of 'creation' itself." "So great is the perceived need to access supra-human sources of fertility that local leaders are forced by their people to 'sacrifice' themselves in order to harness the life-giving and animating force of 'creation'. Held hostage by their subjects, leaders attempt to recreate in human terms creations most apparently potent and productive reaction; the violent and elemental combination of earth and water that takes place in the flooded rice paddies prior to sowing. The transformative and generative power of this complex ritual of mimicry not only helps explain the unique and curious relationship between 'rulers' and 'ruled' to be found in the region but also allows us to understand how the inseparability of people, land and divinity informs such a political system."--Jacket.