Construction nationale, idéntité chrétienne et modernité : Le premier XIXè siècle malgache
Institution:
Lyon 3Disciplines:
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Abstract EN:
This work is a reassesment of precolonial history during the xixth century when the malagasy kingdom became christian. First concerned by technological and intellectual improvements (1817-1835), then offensed by their religious teaching, the power became christian in 1869 at the end of a process which is still mysterious. The approach also concerns minor groups of christians like the catholics. The purpose is to understand the evolution of the state, of the elites, of the peasants and of the conquered territories. After 1869 the work focuses on the territorial and social progression of protestantism which owes much to the pattern of the parish and to the lively interactions between town and country life. It compares the new means of communication : primary schools, secondary schools, books and reviews, with the traditional means, mainly kabary (speeches) and singing which are far more important in their impact. The last part of the work is devoted to the reactions of the rural population. Everybody wants to be baptised like the queen, but the blow of several epudemics leads the crowds to an interpretation in terms of punishment by the ancestors. The famadihana is a ceremony more and more practised to please the ancestors.
Abstract FR:
Ce travail tente une relecture de l'histoire precoloniale du xixe siecle qui vit la conversion d'un pouvoir merina interesse par les apports techniques et intellectuels des missions (1817-1835), puis hostile a leur proselytisme, enfin converti en 1869 au protestantisme a la suite d'un retournement singulier. Les groupes chretiens minoritaires dont les catholiques, sont aussi concernes. L'analyse concerne donc l'evolution du pouvoir, des elites, de la masse paysanne et des provinces durement conquises. Elle analyse apres 1869 la trajectoire territoriale et sociale du protestantisme, centree sur la notion de paroisse et portee par d'etroits rapports entre ville et campagnes. Puis elle suit son impact reposant sur des moyens de communication nouveaux : introduction d'ecoles primaires puis superieures, revues, mais en fait surtout sensible dans le discours, le chant et l'utilisation de l'image. La derniere partie tente d'apprecier les reactions de la population devant ces mutations. Loyaliste, elle s'y engage a la suite de la reine, puis manifeste un retrait a la suite des epidemies de 1875-80, concues comme punitions ancestrales. La ceremonie du famadihana devient alors un recours pour renouer avec les ancetres.