Submission Date

4-25-2025

Document Type

Paper

Department

Modern Languages (French)

Adviser

Andrew Jones

Committee Member

Celine Brossillon

Committee Member

Rebecca Evans

Department Chair

Teresa Ko

Project Description

The cultural elements of kabary and fokonolona have played varying roles in Malagasy society and history. Once appropriated by the forces of colonization, these elements today occupy a liminal space in Malagasy culture but undoubtedly represent parts of the island’s heritage. In this project I argue that film can be seen as a new kind of kabary wherein Malagasy films become the cultural expressions themselves not only through their representations of the essential elements of the kabary, but by their inherent tendencies towards social, political, and environmental activism. The community that these filmmakers create represents a modernization of the traditional form of local governance called the fokonolona, with their individual works acting as contributions to the discussions that the fokonolona fosters.

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