The Continuous Presence of the Past: Materializing and Personifying History in Madagascar

History and heritage are materialized in architecture and objects, but they can also be personified. Among Sakalava in Madagascar the return of historical figures by means of spirit possession presents a distinctive way of conceiving the collective passage of time and of valuing the past. The past is not left behind so much as it presses continuously on the present, demanding to be recognized. I offer a comparison with European historicity and illustrate by means of the bandit spirits who arrived unexpectedly at an annual festival in Madagascar.

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