A Complex History

Tourist season is starting. Some places here in Fianar, don’t look much different during the tourist season and the off-season, but my neighborhood is drastically different.

I live in the Old City. It’s the tourist destination in Fianar. It’s a nice walk up to the top of the hill where the city of Fianar began. During the off-season there were groups of tourists every so often. Now, large groups of vazahas (foreigners) are there daily.

I use this as entertainment, mostly. I try to guess if they are French, American, Norwegian or something else. It also reminds me of how much I am a part of my community here, but also how much I am not. It’s a reminder of how I am in the middle, again.

The tourists coming are also a reminder of the history of Madagascar. Tourism is expected to be up this year because the political situation here is calmed down from past years. When this comes up in conversation with people who haven’t been to Madagascar they say, “Political situation? What happened?”

I don’t have an excellent understanding of what happened either, but I have done some reading and would like to invite you to do some reading as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Malagasy_political_crisis (I know, Wikipedia, but it’s the best detailed summary that I could find in English)

So, the uprising is over now. But, the tourism here is a reminder of the consequences of the uprising. Aid from governments around the world was cut. Tourism went down drastically because of an “unstable” political situation. This caused hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions to close or suffer. Now, the tourism is coming back. But, slowly.

The situation with tourists also reminds me of the complexity of Madagascar’s relationship with France. Madagascar was a French colony until 1958, when Charles De Gaulle granted Madagascar it’s independence. You can read more about the colonization here:

http://www.air-mad.com/about_history.html

http://www.content.eisa.org.za/old-page/madagascar-early-french-colonialism-1896-1945

The two cultures are still very visible here in Mada today. French architecture is everywhere in Madagascar, there are still roads, gutters and other infrastructure that was clearly built by the French government. Now these pieces of the infrastructure are falling apart, and the Malagasy government does not have money to fix it.

French language is everywhere here. Most Malagasy people (at least who live in cities) are fluent in both French and Malagasy, and some children learn French before they learn their own language of Malagasy. French numbers are used more often in the market than Malagasy numbers.

French food is also a very common thing here. Crepes, delicious pastries, French bread, etc. are very common here. These things I don’t mind. Sure, I wish that people would address me first in Malagasy considering that I don’t really speak French, and I wish that the infrastructure had more upkeep. But, these things aren’t bad.

But, it’s complex too. What does it mean to be a visitor here? How can we, as people from other places, be sure that we are honoring and respecting the Malagasy culture? How can I, as an English teacher, be sure I am teaching a skill but also honoring the Malagasy language? How can hotels, restaurants and other tourist places help visitors to feel comfortable, but also educate and help visitors participate in Malagasy culture?  Tourism and having foreign visitors here in Madagascar, brings in a lot of money and support to the country, but it also furthers the process of losing Malagasy culture through globalization, how do we value both things? And so many more questions.

I don’t have the answers to these questions. I can’t have the answers to these questions. But, as the world becomes more interconnected, as more people travel, how do we travel responsibly? And, how do we tell their stories respectfully?