From Adversary to Son: Political and Ecological Process in Northern Madagascar

Analysis of a conflict concerning herding versus agricultural land-use practices in Madagascar reveals that the dynamics of social organization and differentiation are central in negotiating rights to use and manage biophysical biophysical environment and in understanding the relationship between local and national political contexts. This analysis closely examines a transcript from a village-level trial to assess the interplay among family, village, and regional state political arenas and to consider the processes of both arriving at individual settlements and realigning the general parameters of resource-use rights in the community.