National days between commemoration and celebration: remembering 1947 and 1960 in Madagascar

Abstract

Today Madagascar officially celebrates two national holidays. 29 March is dedicated to the memory of anticolonial resistance in 1947, the commemoration of the dead and the decoration of surviving combatants. 26 June in contrast is celebrated as Madagascar's return to independence in 1960 with parades, cultural performances, singing and dancing. But consecutive governments have altered state politics of commemoration and non-state actors have influenced the way in which 1947 and 1960 are remembered.

This study of national days in Madagascar offers an interpretation of the different ways the two key events of national history have been remembered within the fifty years since Independence. Looking into complexities of commemorative practices we question the juxtaposition of commemorating sad events and celebrating joyful ones. Commemoration and celebration make up two poles of a continuum on which the valence memory-making can be placed. We notice that both ends are manifest in nationwide commemorative activities and thus allow for diverging narratives and keep the nation's sentiments between mourning and rejoicing in balance. To illustrate this argument we explore the interrelationship and interdependency of the said national days in Madagascar.

To consider different activities between celebration and commemoration to remember 1947 and 1960 we analyse historical and anthropological data of official and private Malagasy commemorative practises with respect to their polyvalence, flexibility and versatility.

Keywords:

• Madagascar
• national holiday
• insurrection of 1947
• independence
• memory
• commemoration
• celebration