60 Min — “Reading Political Parties in Madagascar: Neopatrimonial Tools or Democratic Instruments?”
Using cultural values to create development incentive
•1 February 2011 • Leave a CommentEvery culture has things that are valued above all else. In America, one such value is the opportunity to work, to earn, to create wealth. We value that and so there is incentive to pursue it. Other cultures’ values however, don’t always center around economic factors. In some cultures people value honor, in others prestige, and in others perhaps it is the family. What I wonder is, is there a way to incentivize economic growth by attaching these values to that growth. Could someone find incentive to invest in his or her economy (thus growing the economy by means of money or labor) as a result of his or her desire for honor or prestige? Can we find ways to connect culture to modernization? Since every culture values different things I think there has to be a way to use those values to create incentive for people to develop their own nation. If we don’t accommodate for traditional values and priorities the people will lack the determination to see any development program through to the end.
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Literature Review Worksheet
•31 January 2011 • Leave a Comment1. What are the key concepts you’ve dissected within your own question? List related search terms.
-Merina identity, corruption, ethnicity versus political identity, political oratory
2. What additional key terms and concepts have you discovered in the literature?
-Ethonym, toponym
3. What discipline or disciplines are your sources based within?
-Anthropology, Ethnohistory, African Affairs, Economic development, Sociolinguistics
4. What are some of the concepts that your sources generally agree on (underlying assumptions)?
-My sources are varied and touch on very different aspects of Malagasy culture. Each provides critical context for the political culture I want to study but none overlap enough to address similar concepts let alone agree on them.
5. Are there particular scholars or sources that seem to be referenced frequently in what you’ve read so far?
-Not so far as I’ve noticed so far.
6. What need is there for further research in the academic discussion? In other words, where are the gaps?
-There is not much for there to be gaps in. Little research at all exists on historical institutionalism in Madagascar.
7. Where are you strong within your literature review?
-I’m starting to get a better grasp on the historical development of the Merina society which all but dominated the island prior to colonization.
8. What are some things you may be missing and still need to find (including things you haven’t been able to find, or haven’t noticed were missing before)?
-I still need to look more into relations between the Merina kingdom and the cotiers. I also need to move from that period up through colonial Madagascar and into modern politics, examining the evolution of the institutions and ideologies.
-I need to examine the current and preceding constitutions for ideology and institution structure. I also need to get a better grasp for the various political parties and their roles in society.
9. Summarize in 3-4 sentences what your sources are arguing when considered together, based on your understanding and on the things you’ve read.
-My sources so far have addressed a wide variety of aspects of Malagasy culture and as such provide good context for further reading but do not coincide sufficiently enough to be synthesized into a single concept o r two.
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31 January
•31 January 2011 • Leave a Comment60 Min — Bernard, “Interviewing: Unstructured and Semistructured”
30 Min — Lit Review worksheet
Abraham Contos 