My book examines how the legacy of slavery continues to shape social life in Madagascar. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research in the southern highlands, it shows how ideas of ancestry, descent, marriage, and an “essentialized” difference are mobilized to justify exclusion and inequality, while also being challenged and reworked in everyday interactions. By analyzing these dynamics, the book contributes to broader debates in anthropology on memory, identity, and the enduring social consequences of slavery. (Routledge, 2021)
Slavery and Essentialism in Madagascar
Climate, Health, and Survival in Southern Madagascar: A Critical Ethnography of Vulnerability and Neglect
My new project examines how people in southern Madagascar confront recurring famine (known locally as Kere) and the challenges posed by a changing climate. I will explore everyday survival strategies — from farming and migration to mutual support within communities — while also analyzing how aid programs and government policies shape the possibilities people have to endure and adapt. By bringing local stories into conversation with broader histories and politics, this project seeks to illuminate how communities face hardship today and how they envision more secure futures.