The Tsimihety are a Malagasy ethnic group who are found in the north-central region of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

.Tsimihety
Encyclopædia Britannica Their name means "those who never cut their hair", a behavior likely linked to their independence from

Sakalava The Sakalava are an ethnic group of Madagascar. They are primarily found on the western edge of Madagascar from Toliara in the south to the Sambirano River in the north. The Sakalava constitute about 6.2 percent of the total population, or abou ...

kingdom, located to their west, where cutting hair at the time of mourning was expected. They are found in mountainous part of the island. They are one of the largest Malagasy ethnic groups and their population estimates range between 700,000 and over 1.2 million. This estimation places them as the fourth-largest ethnicity in Madagascar. Tsimihety people Madagascar

Ethnic identity

The Tsimihety trace their origins back to the eastern coast, having migrated with their cattle to the Mandritsara plain in the 18th century as leaderless refugees fleeing the slave wars ongoing in their homeland. Soon afterward they accepted the rule of the Volafotsy, a clan associated with the Maroserana who had migrated north from Sakalava territory. Peter Wilson – a professor of Anthropology specializing on Madagascar, states that Tsimihety people do not fit the normal assumptions of anthropologists, for these people "didn't create symbols or rituals or tribal rules" like tribes do, but they can "only be described negatively" by what they didn't and don't do. They are thus not a tribe, because they lack tribal ties, lack social compact and have no hierarchical power structure within the ethnic group. Their relationships are centered around biological family and kin.

History

The

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

system prevailed among the Tsimihety people before the 19th century. However, in 1823,

Radama I Radama I "the Great" (c. 1793–1828) was the first Malagasy sovereign to be recognized as King of Madagascar (1810–1828) by a European state, Great Britain. He came to power at the age of 17 following the death of his father, King Andrianampo ...

, the

Merina The Merina people (also known as the Imerina, Antimerina, Borizany or Ambaniandro) formerly called Amboalambo are the largest ethnic group in Madagascar.

king, brought the entire island under one rule, including the Tsimihety, and abolished the international slave trade. The French colonial rule absorbed the Tsimihety in 1896, as a part of

French Madagascar The Colony of Madagascar and Dependencies () was a French colony off the coast of Southeast Africa between 1897 and 1958 in what is now Madagascar. The colony was formerly a protectorate of France known as Malagasy Protectorate. The protecto ...

. The Tsimihety have been an active part of Madagascar politics ever since.

Philibert Tsiranana Philibert Tsiranana (18 October 1912 – 16 April 1978) was a Malagasy politician and leader who served as the seventh prime minister of Madagascar from 1958 to 1959, and then later the first president of Madagascar from 1959 to 1972. Duri ...

, a Tsimihety from near Mandritsara, was the first president of the

Malagasy Republic The Malagasy Republic (, ) was a state situated in Southeast Africa on the island of Madagascar. It was established in 1958 as an autonomous republic within the newly created French Community, became fully independent in 1960, and existed un ...

, when it became a semi-autonomous region within the French Union in 1959, and remained president for 10 years after it gained independence from France in 1960.

Society

David Graeber David Rolfe Graeber (; February 12, 1961 – September 2, 2020) was an American and British anthropologist, Left-wing politics, left-wing and anarchism, anarchist social and political activist. His influential work in Social anthropology, social ...

, an

anthropologist An anthropologist is a scientist engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropologists study aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms, values ...

specializing in the study of anarchist systems, states the Tsimihety people exemplify a historic social system that accepted no authority and practiced

anarchy Anarchy is a form of society without rulers. As a type of stateless society, it is commonly contrasted with states, which are centralized polities that claim a monopoly on violence over a permanent territory. Beyond a lack of government, it can ...

: The Tsimihety represent one of the rare examples where the culture was innately anti-government, where states Graeber, all forms of government had effectively been withdrawn even from countryside and communities. Informal consensus was the basis of local decisions, anyone behaving like a leader was considered suspicious, giving orders was wrong, expecting anyone to be responsible for or would actually do something was wrong, and even concepts such as working for a wage was morally shunned. Graeber states that ultimately, the Tsimihety were "eventually gobbled up by the state", gave up the utopia, as they sought economic opportunities and infrastructure.

Family affiliation

The Tsimihety people are patrilineal, and kin relationships with the male ancestors and descendants are most important to both men and women. Their cultural conventions require extended exogamy, which coupled with high birth rates have led to their migration and high diffusion among neighboring ethnic groups. The society is also notable for the social roles expected by a Tsimihety family from a maternal uncle.

Language

The language of the Tsimihety people is a dialect of the

Malagasy language Malagasy ( ; ; Sorabe: ) is an Austronesian languages, Austronesian language and dialect continuum spoken in Madagascar. The standard variety, called Official Malagasy, is one of the official languages of Madagascar, alongside French language, F ...

, a branch of the Malayo-Polynesian language group derived from the

Barito languages The Barito languages are around twenty Austronesian languages of Indonesia (Borneo), plus Malagasy, the national language of Madagascar, and the Sama–Bajaw languages around the Sulu Archipelago. They are named after the Barito River located ...

spoken in the

Austronesia The Austronesian people, sometimes referred to as Austronesian-speaking peoples, are a large group of peoples who have settled in Taiwan, maritime Southeast Asia, parts of mainland Southeast Asia, Micronesia, coastal New Guinea, Island Melanesi ...

n region.Dm Albro (2005)
Language: Tsimihety Malagasy
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Economy

Tsimihety society and economy, as in much of

, is primarily focused on agriculture. Rice is the staple crop, and the Tsimihety raise cattle. Working on crop land on Tuesday is fady – a taboo – among the Tsimihety. The main economic center among the Tsimihety is in Mandritsara.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Ethnic groups in Madagascar Anarchist theory