In this discussion, we will explore how the integration of archaeology, historical ecology and oral history can serve Vezo communities.
About this event
The title of this session is a translation of a Vezo proverb “Ze tane mahavelo ka tanendraza”. For Vezo fishing communities of southwest Madagascar, Raza (ancestors) are ever present and active in daily life. The presence and care of Raza is felt through experiences of and interactions with the land and sea-scapes the Vezo call home and rely on for sustenance.
Our archaeology and oral history project began with the basic objective of understanding how people and land/sea-scapes have co-evolved in this region. Over time it became a collaborative and experimental effort to record oral histories and fully integrate the voices of Raza and Olo Be (elders) in archaeological practice. Led by our local advisory board of elders, we have developed place-based oral history methods using drones and SCUBA diving to document knowledge of current and past land and sea-scapes.
Vezo communities today face severe threats to their livelihoods, including food and water insecurity, in a context in which climate impacts are intensifying, biodiversity and species abundance are decreasing and industrial extraction of resources by non-local actors is inequitably regulated. Through this discussion we will explore the ways in which the integration of archaeology, historical ecology and oral history have the potential to serve Vezo communities today and in the future.
Kristina Guild Douglass is an archaeologist who investigates how people, land- and seascapes co-evolve. She is an Associate Professor of Climate at Columbia University and a Smithsonian Institution Research Associate. Her work is grounded in collaborations with local, Indigenous, and descendant (LID) communities as equal partners in the co-production of science, and the recording, preservation and dissemination of LID knowledge. Douglass and her collaborators aim to contribute long-term perspectives on human-environment interactions to public debates, planning and policymaking on the issues of climate change, conservation, and sustainability.
Since 2011 Douglass has directed the Morombe Archaeological Project (MAP), based in the Velondriake Marine Protected Area and Commune de Befandefa in southwest Madagascar. This territory is home to diverse communities, including Vezo fishers, Mikea foragers and Masikoro herders. The MAP team is made up of local community members, and an international group of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. The MAP is anchored to the Olo Be Taloha Lab (@OBTLab), meaning “lab of the elders of the past”, housed at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. Douglass is a mother, singer, dancer, Capoeirista, SCUBA diver and avid gardener, all of which intersect in essential ways with her work as an archaeologist and climate scientist.