Political Oratory and Cartooning: An Ethnography of Democratic Processes in Madagascar

Jackson traces the lively skirmishes between Madagascar’s political cartoonists and politicians whose cartooning and public oratory reveal an ever-shifting barometer of democracy in the island nation. 

• The first anthropological study of the role of language and rhetoric in reshaping democracy
• Maps the dynamic relationship between formalized oratory, satire, and political change in Madagascar
• A fascinating analysis of the extraordinary Ciceronian features of kabary, a style of formal public oratory long abandoned in the West
• Documents the management by United States Democrat campaign advisors of a foreign presidential bid, unprecedented in the post-colonial era

Content:
Chapter 1 Introduction: “Look Out! The Sleeping Locusts Awake” (pages 1–17):
Chapter 2 A History of Language and Politics in Madagascar (pages 18–64):
Chapter 3 The Structural and Social Organization of Kabary Politika (pages 65–91):
Chapter 4 The Structural and Social Organization of Kisarisary Politika (Political Cartooning) (pages 92–116):
Chapter 5 Building Publics through Interanimating and Shifting Registers (pages 117–156):
Chapter 6 “Stop Acting Like a Slave”: The Ideological and Aesthetic Dimensions of Syntax and Register in Political Kabary and Political Cartooning (pages 157–192):
Chapter 7 “That's What You Think”: Arguing Representations of Truth in Language (pages 193–213):
Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Constraints and Possibilities of Democracy (pages 214–240):