Vezo

ethnic group


image_caption=
group=Vezo
poptime=unofficial estimates include: 3000 in Anakao, 1500 in Andavadoaka, 1000 in Betania; 22000 lakanas documented in 1995 census, see Reef Doctor]
popplace=Madagascar
langs=Malagasy language, Vezo dialect
rels=ancestral religion
related-c=Masikoro [Vezo term people who live inland as Masikoro and people who live by the sea as Vezo, see Rita Astuti]

The Vezo is the term the semi-nomadic coastal people of southern Madagascar use to refer to people that have become accustomed to live from sea fishing. They do not identify with an ethnic group but instead with their way of life. [Rita Astuti] Because of their semi-nomadic marine migrations their population is difficult to determine and has been estimated by counting the dugout canoes called pirogues ("lakanas" in Malagasy language) around Madagascar.

Ethnic identity

Anthropologists generally describe the Vezo as "having evident genetic similarities to ethic groups from mainland Africa," while at the same time the Vezo consider their identity depending on their actions. [Langley, Astuti]

History

ociety

Culture

ee also

* Demographics of Madagascar

Notes

References

*cite paper| first=Josephine| last=Langley| authorlink= | title=The 2004-2005 census of Andavadoaka| version= | publisher=blueventures.org|date=2006| url=http://www.blueventures.org/BV_Andavadoaka_Census_2006.pdf| format=PDF| id=Langley, J., Harris, A. & Nihalani, N. (2006) The 2004-2005 census of Andavadoaka, southwest Madagascar.| quote=Through discussions with villagers (Linnecar, 2004), it can be ascertained that Vezo identity is not gained through the simple act of being born, or by descent, or by being inherited from the past| accessdate=2007-10-30
*cite web| url=http://www.reefdoctor.org/index.php/rd/expeditions/whoarewehelping/ |title=Vezo people: the stakeholders |publisher=Reef Doctor |quote=In 1995 a census was taken on lakana numbers and 22,000 documented, with 75% of them on the west coast of Madagascar with 50% of these in the Toliara region alone |accessdate=2007-10-30
*cite journal| author=Rita Astuti| title=The Vezo Are Not a Kind of People": Identity, Difference, and "Ethnicity" among a Fishing People of Western Madagascar| journal=American Ethnologist| volume=22| issue=3|date=1985| url=http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/470| pages=464–482| issn=0094-0496| doi=10.1525/ae.1995.22.3.02a00010
*cite web| url=http://www.philosophy.dept.shef.ac.uk/culture&mind/people/astutir/ |title=Culture and the Mind / Fieldsite in Western Madagascar |author=Rita Astuti |publisher=Sheffield University |quote=Betania ... Population About 1,000 in August, 2004 ... Language Malagasy, Vezo dialect ... ancestral religion is predominant in the village ... |accessdate=2007-10-30
*cite web| url=http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/where_we_work/africa/where/madagascar/index.cfm?uNewsID=98900 |title=Volunteering with the Vezo |author=Elizabeth Kiendl de Haes |publisher=World Wide Fund for Nature |date=2007-04-11 |quote=village of Anakao, with approximately 3000 inhabitants ... no running water, no electricity, no internet and no mobile reception ... consuming primarily what they can obtain from the sea, plus some pulses, rice and mangoes |accessdate=2007-10-30

External links

* [http://mgias.com/index.php/The_Southern_Region The Southern Region] - very short section on Vezo canoes and burial practices
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_shark_fishing_in_madagascar/html/1.stm Photo journal: Shark fishing in Madagascar] Jonny Hogg, BBC, ten annotated photographs about the Vezo, "the sea is the most important thing in the world for the Vezo. For most of us, it's our only source of income."