DESPERATELY SEEKING THE MERINA (CENTRAL MADAGASCAR) - READING ETHNONYMS AND THEIR SEMANTIC FIELDS IN AFRICAN IDENTITY HISTORIES

This article is an exploration into what a temporally and semantically 'deep' reading of African identity names reveals not only about the s hifting meanings of ethnic naming over time but about the nature and d efinition of ethnic identity itself Scholars have long recognized that identities are socially and historically constructed yet failed to su fficiently account for continuing shifts and transformations of identi ty consciousness within named corporate groups. Taking the case of the Merina of central Madagascar this article demonstrates that Merina id entity is both art historical product of the early, nineteenth century and that that identity was, at origin, a political consciousness that later became ethnicized. These conclusions are reached through a care ful reading of the meanings of vernacular identity names in Malagasy l anguage texts. By drawing comparisons between Merina and Zulu identiti es of the early nineteenth century, the article suggests that precolon ial 'ethnic' identities generated through the process of state formati on followed a common trajectory from political to ethnic. It further a rgues that care should be exercised in terming named corporate groups 'ethnic' when the consciousness that binds them together may be of an altogether different nature. Finally, the article argues that studies of ethnogenesis and ethnic identity transformation must be extended in to Africa's precolonial past and greater attention paid to the agency of Africans in identity politics. Careful 'readings' of African names of belonging will play a pivotal role in these projects.