CONSPICUOUS CONSTRUCTION - HOUSES, CONSUMPTION AND RELOCALIZATION IN MANAMBONDRO, SOUTHEAST MADAGASCAR

This article examines consumption practices in a region of rural south east Madagascar, focusing in particular on the building of houses with materials produced outside the local economy. Whilst recognizing that processes of delocalization in vernacular architecture are taking pla ce through the consumption of non-locally produced materials, it is ar gued that this process exists alongside others of relocalization, One form of relocalization is a process by which non-locally produced mate rials are incorporated into local cultural schemas through spatial and ritual practices. Another form of relocalization involves the intenti onal projects of migrants, who build houses in their natal villages pa rtly as a means by which to forge continuing and meaningful ties with their ancestral homeland during periods of residence in other parts of Madagascar. The article thus suggests that people may not only locali ze goods from the global economy through the work of appropriation, bu t may also employ them in the production of locality.