Effects of social change on wildlife consumption taboos in northeastern Madagascar

Abstract

ABSTRACT. In Madagascar, the constellation of taboos serves as a form of informal regulatory institution and is foundational to Malagasy culture, regardless of class, ethnic group affiliation, and educational background. Many researchers have credited rapid social change as a crucial mechanism for disturbing taboos. Others suggest that taboos are innately historical. However, very little empirical research has assessed the effects of social change on taboos or quantified the stability of taboo systems over time. Here, we use a case study of the ensemble of taboos in northeastern Madagascar, still a critical aspect of social life there, as a lens through which we investigate its degree of stability over time. Our aim was: (1) to describe the food taboos of local Malagasy living in northeastern Madagascar, and (2) to quantitatively assess the stability of these taboos to address certain claims regarding cultural erosion using an empirical, hypothesis-driven approach with rich ethnographic material to aid in interpretation. We investigated the temporal stability of taboos and local adherence to the moral framework, finding that approximately 3.0% of 4857 taboos were not adhered to at least once during the course of a 7-yr follow-up study. Additionally, we quantitatively explored the mediating effects of migration, modernization, and the spread of Western religion on number of taboos and level of adherence. We found that the presence of extralocal groups and migration did not decrease the number of taboos abided by locally, but did increase rates of nonadherence. Modernization accompanied by generational shifts tended to increase rather than erode the number of taboos, and younger individuals adhered to taboos to the same degree as older individuals. The effect of Western religion depended on the denomination, but generally reduced the number of taboos, although it did not affect adherence. The ways in which social change affects the stability of taboos are complex. Migrants tended to adhere to taboos less than long-standing inhabitants, suggesting that attachment to place is significant in maintaining adherence to taboos.

The human health and conservation relevance of food taboos in northeastern Madagascar

“…Therefore, it is logical that locally rooted stories, which commemorate historical observations and document the negative consequences of transgressing taboos, lead to stronger adherence. To underline this point, knowledge of the origin of the taboo, memorialized by an oral story, was significantly associated, in our research in Madagascar, with nearly seven times higher adherence to the taboo than to taboos lacking an origin story (Golden and Comaroff 2015).…”

“…Only men were interviewed because the original study design was targeted to understand patterns of hunting (a discussion of the effects of this sampling frame can be found in Golden and Comaroff 2015). In addition to a variety of other questions concerning wildlife harvest (Golden 2009, ethnomedicinal use (Golden et al 2012a), and the eating of nonfood items, i.e., geophagy, or the consumption of earth or soil (Golden et al 2012b), the survey covered numerous topics, including household composition and economy, resource extraction behaviors, educational achievement, and religious and ethnic group affiliations.…”

“…With these questions in mind, we aimed to investigate some of the most common food taboos in the Makira region of northeastern Madagascar (Golden and Comaroff 2015; Fig. 1) to determine if there was evidence from the medical and public health literature to reveal these species as a potential source of illness risk from toxins, allergy, or zoonotic disease.…”

“…Taboos may also serve, intentionally or otherwise, to benefit human health and/or environmental conservation. Golden and Comaroff (2015) addressed the underlying social, economic, and religious drivers of changes to the taboo system. This study aims to explore more speculatively whether taboos can serve an adaptive significance to human health through illness risk prevention, or via an ecological function for resource conservation.…”

“…Taboos mark out boundaries, identities, and solidarities, and consolidate a sense of the shared historical, cultural, and physical substance of particular groups of kin (Golden and Comaroff 2015). In her analysis of the institution of new food taboos in African independent churches in colonial times, Comaroff (1985) sought to extend the meaning of taboos by refusing to see them as static, timeless, and abstract, and by highlighting their role as purposeful "acts" engaged in at specific historical junctures, which represent efforts to control a threatening social environment, and which can reveal what Lambek (1992:261) referred to as "powerful dialectics of encompassment and resistance."…”