More recent StudyAn analysis of radiocarbon data has shown that humans may have lived on Madagascar for more time than previously thought. They may have co-existed with extinct species for at least a thousand year before their populations began to decline.
Douglass believes that the inclusion and application of place-based knowledge often overrides outsiders’ assumptions. She says that while we tend to have a general idea of what constitutes disturbance and climate stress, as well as events that could lead community disintegration, what we are learning is that some things that we identify as highly stressful may actually be things that the local niche or local system has adapted to deal with.
She says that although theories about Madagascar’s migration patterns assume that communities moved when forced to do so by scarcity resources, the team of local historians has interviewed often speaks of being pulled to seek out new opportunities. To understand how people have survived over time, we need place-based knowledge.
The challenge ahead: Climate change intensification
Douglass often cites a proverb from the Vezo, the fisherpeople of southwest Madagascar. Translated into English, this means: The land that sustains your life is the land of your ancestors.
These connections, not only between people, but also between generations of residents, are key to survival in such a difficult environment, she says. Social memory is what binds it all together.
Douglass explains that social memory is the transmission of knowledge from one generation into the next. As Douglass and Tanambelo Rasolondrainy demonstrated, it is crucial to the creation a sustainable human niche in Madagascar. AnalysedThe oral history data collected by the MAP team.
