Anglo-Malagasy Society Newsletter 6: February 1980 |
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Two announcements are of special interest. One concerned the re-opening of the British embassy in Antananarivo and the appointment of Mr Richard J Langridge to the post; the other the appointment of the Malagasy ambassador in Paris as non-resident Ambassador to the Court of St James. The Society’s satisfaction is indicated by the invitation to M et Mme Raharijaona to attend the Annual Dinner at the House of Lords on the 29th February, when it is hoped that HM’s Government will be represented by a Minister.
About 30 members and friends attended the Society’s Autumn meeting at the Athenaeum on 19th November 1979. Mr J Street presided in the absence of Lord Merrivale, who had to go on an overseas trip the previous day and so missed a meeting for the first time since the Society was founded. Mr R H Eden, of Edinburgh, spoke on the Geology of Madagascar. The lay audience might have been daunted by the views of Wegener, Gondwana and tectonic drift, but the speaker’s skill made these, and much more, intelligible and interesting, partly with the help of slides. Did someone breathe a sigh of relief when it was stated that the last important ‘continental collision’ involving Madagascar seems to have been about 100 million years ago? Madagascar possesses a great variety of minerals but many are still ‘sub-economic’. The most important at present is chromite. (It may be noted that its exploitation has been nationalised; it may also be noted that if anyone went to Andriamena where the mines are usually said to be in public references, he would find that he still had several hours’ walk before reaching Ambodiketsa, which is the real centre.) Some uranium-bearing minerals were first described from Madagascar, notably by the French geologist Lacroix, and were given Malagasy names such as betafite (from Betafo, near Antsirabe). Kimberlite suggests that there ought to be diamonds; but either they remain to be discovered; or it is kimberlite without the stones. As for the future, chromite and uranium-bearing minerals will remain important, together with bauxite. There are possibilities too with iron-ore (see ‘simple technology’ proposals in previous Letter), some beach-sands, coal and some gemstones. The drills which have been boring for years may still strike oil. Among difficulties connected with minerals are, first, the fact that some sites are now harder to exploit than earlier surface-workings; second, artificial products may depress the market, as for example, with graphite (of which Madagascar is a major world producer) even though there is still a live industry.
The subject of Gondwana, the former giant continent of which Madagascar seems to have been a part, has been examined in greater depth than was possible for the Society in the above-mentioned meeting. It was the theme of the latest in the series of international conferences being organised by the Academie Malgache, which was due to be held in Antananarivo in September 1979. Although there is no report to add to pre-conference information, it presumably did meet. The second part of the conference was to be held in Tulear, to examine local mineral resources. In addition to local experts, visiting specialists were invited from Western Germany, France, Italy, USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Mali, Nigeria, Zaire, Lesotho, China, Japan and USSR.
Reference to all these countries is a reminder that Madagascar has its special place in relation to the cultures of Africa. The long-awaited exhibition of African textiles opened at the Museum of Mankind (Burlington Gardens, near Piccadilly) in December 1979. One Section is devoted to Madagascar, as is a chapter in the substantial and handsome book on sale at the entrance. The exhibition will probably remain for several months.
A number of topics which have been prominent in the press recently may make one think of something to do with Madagascar, either in the past or in the present; for example, Marco Polo, inflation, numbers, gold and energy. The next few paragraphs deal in that way with these topics. Italy and China are working together to make a film about Marco Polo, the man to whom in practical terms it seems we owe the name ‘Madagascar’, even though scholars continue to debate the etymology. Perhaps in the film Madagascar can hope for little more than at best a passing reference as a traveller’s tale about a distant island which Marco Polo himself never saw; though a producer might think that huge birds carrying enormous animals up into the sky and dropping them would make some striking shots.
The franc has had a run of about 85 years. But despite its legal status it never entirely supplanted the Ariary (worth 5 francs and formerly translated as ‘dollar’) nor the less valuable ‘sikajy’, ‘lasiroa’ and other terms. One result was that though coins and notes were in francs, in public meetings financial figures often had to be given in both currencies. Skill in mental arithmetic was a ‘must’ for audiences expected no hesitation. Now, however, it has been decided that the new nickel coinage is to be in ariary (also found on recent stamps). To mark the change, the Royal Mint was commissioned to produce 5,000 of each of the 10 and 20 ariary coins (ie 50 and 100frs) in Sterling silver. Four thousand are for general sale throughout the world at £15.96 the set. Application forms for ‘Two Coins from Madagascar’ are obtainable from the Royal Mint, Numismatic Bureau, PO Box 6, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, Mid-Glam. As with other currencies, inflation has eroded the strength of the Malagasy ariary. In 1980 it costs 19 ariary (95frs) to send a 5g letter by air to London. But a century ago on the east coast 19 ariary would buy you nearly 800 lbs of white rice. However, if inflation has destroyed the value of the ariary, few tears will be shed over the disappearance of almost all the terms for lesser sums. A list published in the 1880s gave no less than 102 subdivisions of the ariary (each with a special name to describe it) which had to be weighed on scales with tiny bits of cut money. They have become irrelevant.
In Britain some people are bothered by numbers, as by metrication or by receiving communications from certain countries in which the familiar order of days and months in a date has been reversed. In Madagascar too figures have become a problem: only a mild example of a clash of cultures, but one which can be awkward in everyday life when dealing with the numbers of cars, telephones and identity cards, or even writing or typing at dictation. The Academie Malgache has had to step in with advice. In English and French, numbers are pronounced beginning with the highest and proceeding to the lowest – in written terms, moving from left to right. But in Malagasy you begin with the lowest, eg ‘one and three tens and six hundreds and five thousands and one hundred thousand’. How then to avoid confusion when the local mathematical method is different from the method implied by skills and instruments from elsewhere? Hitherto some have treated telephone numbers, for example, in the style of ‘thirty-two/sixty-four’, in French, for 3264. Briefly, the Academie’s solution is to say that, first, telephone numbers are not to be thought of as being similar to, say, the number of inhabitants in a town. They are really conventional signs. So, second, when dealing with telephones, cars, identity cards individual figures should be celled from left to right: 22697 is ‘two two six nine seven’.
The recent increase in gold prices is a reminder that Madagascar has its gold. There was even a miniature gold-rush of miners from other countries in the 1890s. A gravestone in a lonely area still carries the name of Sidney Smith and points to the price that some had to pay. It has known too a strange tale of saltings (in 1905) which succeeded in misleading a number of honest and technically competent men. It has been said that the man behind it was neither English nor French; that the ‘pitfalls of South African law’ make it impossible to be more specific; and that the name would in fact ‘provoke amazement, incredulity and mirth’. Exploitation of Malagasy gold has usually been by sluice-washing. The largest Company produced 140 kilos in 1933. But in recent decades some have thought that the prices they could obtain locally were too low to encourage vigorous exploitation of some of the workings. The British geologist Sir Roderick Murchison wrote that Madagascar would eventually prove to be perhaps the richest gold-bearing country in the world. Maybe its day has not yet come. But for the curious visitor to shake a sort of winnowing fan for a few minutes at the invitation of the owner of the ‘concession’ and eventually to see a tiny gleam in the centre reflecting the sunlight can give rise to a quick thought about a Golden Age – in the future.
Much has been said and written in Madagascar about the rise in the price of petrol and as in Britain there is talk about finding various local sources for energy. Previous Letters have referred to the revival of development plans for the Sakoa coal deposits in the southwest and a British firm is taking part in some research in that connection. One or two more rivers are to be harnessed – and anyone familiar with the eastern forest knows how many more waterfalls there are which come tumbling down from above one’s head. Perhaps for technical reasons or because of capital expense nobody seems to have suggested harnessing the tides, or the very powerful bores on some rivers in the west. But a Malagasy writer has recently put forward three suggestions. First, sun-power, according to his calculations, the ‘power’ of the sun falling on the island is 73,000 times the island’s needs in energy; and he estimates that the energy actually required could be obtained by harnessing the power of the sun over a surface of 100 square kilometres. One special advantage he singles out is that in the south solar pumps could be used for irrigation. (It may be noted in passing that nothing seems to have come of the specially commissioned Westinghouse report on obtaining fresh water from seawater, for irrigation etc in that area). Second, Biogaz, to be produced from animal and household waste could provide domestic electricity. Third, wind-power – an extension of the small windmills which have long been seen on a few individual houses in rural areas.
A conference on Development in Africa was organised by the World Council of Churches at Antsirabe in November 1979. The Secretary in charge of projects for Francophone Africa at headquarters in Geneva is M Max Rafransoa, who was preceded in his post by M Frederic Randriamamonjy who for some time has been Madagascar’s Ambassador in Moscow. Christian Aid has provided help for some projects in Madagascar, including the farm at Andanona, east of Antananarivo, and was represented by its Francophone Africa Projects Officer, Miss B Walker. Among other matters, the Conference emphasised that the most skilled persons in a nation should not work ‘for’ the people (as, it was claimed, many are said to think they are doing) but rather should work ‘with’ them. Further, it was said that wealthy nations should examine more carefully their motives in providing development aid.
There are at least six Malagasy students spending a year or so in the UK in Manchester, Birmingham, Colchester, Bedford, London and Chichester, studying among other subjects, theology and linguistics. One has come in the middle of a course at a University in France, in which country there is probably the largest number of expatriate Malagasy. In March 1979 the Malagasy Ambassador in Moscow said, in Antananarivo, that 400 Malagasy students were given scholarships by the USSR. It seems that now the figure has been raised to a regular 200 students per annum for a four-year course. How many Malagasy are living in the UK in 1980, It is difficult to be sure, but apart from those going for brief visits as tourists, for conferences or for quick research, the total in the first few months of the year probably hardly exceeds twenty of all ages.
A Christian Council of Madagascar was publicly inaugurated in January 1980 by the four major Churches: The Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, the Lutheran Church, the Malagasy Episcopal (Anglican) Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Among other shared activities there has been cooperation in considering certain public issues and it is remembered that the Church leaders, working together, played a crucial part in the difficult circumstances of 1972. The new Council will enable the Churches to speak with greater authority on subjects of continuing public interest.
Two British experts and their wives left in late 1979 to be ‘temporarily permanent’ residents in Antananarivo. They are to help in two interesting areas of technical aid. Dr J Williams is to help with the full and speedy analysis of meteorological information which comes in. It seems that there has been too much weather for local resources to cope with – but now it will be tackled with a computer by Dr Williams and a Chinese expert. A further aim is to link the information eventually gained by analysis to agriculture in order to try to forecast probable yields. Squadron-leader P Moore, on the other hand, is advising on air-safety procedures and no doubt will also have to consider search and rescue services. Madagascar has had its accidents, but fortunately they have been comparatively few in relation to the number of flights over the last four or five decades. There have been some crashes of military aircraft and some private planes (sometimes because they broke regulations). In public transport perhaps the only major accident was that of 1967. Some incidents have involved helicopters, as when that carrying President Tsiranana and others suddenly dropped, though from a low height; the Prime Minister was killed in a crash in 1976 (and the former ‘British’ Rue Georges V in Faravohitra commemorates him with the new name of ‘Lalana Joel Rakotomalala’).
And lastly a note on publication. Mention has been made before of Oberle Tananarive et l’Imerina. A second volume by the same writer has now appeared: Provinces Malgaches: Art, Histoire, Tourisme; 228pp; 343 photos. It is available for 140 francs, post free, from Editions Kintana, 29 Rue Traversière, 68400, Riedsheim, France. A third volume Madagascar, Sanctuaire de la Nature is announced for 1980. Hommes et Destins is the title of a substantial Dictionnaire Biographique d’Outre-Mer edited by R Cornevin, the historian of Africa, and published by the Academie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, Paris. Persons of all nationalities who were prominent in areas which at some time were under French control are included. Among them are some ‘nationalist leaders’ who rejected that French control. Volume I contained a few Madagascar personalities; but Volume III is entirely devoted to Madagascar. A member of the Society was asked to write the original English text (to be edited and published in French) of several notices of British people (and two Malagasy). Tho choice of names (Baron, Chick, Ellis, Oliver and others) depended largely on the possibility of producing manuscripts at short notice. Some have remained in the editor’s hands, for a proposed second volume on Madagascar. There has long been a Department of Malagasy Language, Literature and Civilisation in the University. The Department has just published the first number of a six-monthly review called Hiratra (overseas subscription 3,200 FMG pa). The Introduction explains that it will publish articles in various languages (the first number has French and Malagasy) and emphasizes that that policy of ‘plurilinguisme’ is intended to express the aim of ‘satisfying the demands not only of Malgachisation and of democratisation but also of openness and of the bringing together or resources from all quarters in the area of research on Malagasy language, literature, civilisation and culture’.
About 30 members and friends attended the Society’s Autumn meeting at the Athenaeum on 19th November 1979. Mr J Street presided in the absence of Lord Merrivale, who had to go on an overseas trip the previous day and so missed a meeting for the first time since the Society was founded. Mr R H Eden, of Edinburgh, spoke on the Geology of Madagascar. The lay audience might have been daunted by the views of Wegener, Gondwana and tectonic drift, but the speaker’s skill made these, and much more, intelligible and interesting, partly with the help of slides. Did someone breathe a sigh of relief when it was stated that the last important ‘continental collision’ involving Madagascar seems to have been about 100 million years ago? Madagascar possesses a great variety of minerals but many are still ‘sub-economic’. The most important at present is chromite. (It may be noted that its exploitation has been nationalised; it may also be noted that if anyone went to Andriamena where the mines are usually said to be in public references, he would find that he still had several hours’ walk before reaching Ambodiketsa, which is the real centre.) Some uranium-bearing minerals were first described from Madagascar, notably by the French geologist Lacroix, and were given Malagasy names such as betafite (from Betafo, near Antsirabe). Kimberlite suggests that there ought to be diamonds; but either they remain to be discovered; or it is kimberlite without the stones. As for the future, chromite and uranium-bearing minerals will remain important, together with bauxite. There are possibilities too with iron-ore (see ‘simple technology’ proposals in previous Letter), some beach-sands, coal and some gemstones. The drills which have been boring for years may still strike oil. Among difficulties connected with minerals are, first, the fact that some sites are now harder to exploit than earlier surface-workings; second, artificial products may depress the market, as for example, with graphite (of which Madagascar is a major world producer) even though there is still a live industry.
The subject of Gondwana, the former giant continent of which Madagascar seems to have been a part, has been examined in greater depth than was possible for the Society in the above-mentioned meeting. It was the theme of the latest in the series of international conferences being organised by the Academie Malgache, which was due to be held in Antananarivo in September 1979. Although there is no report to add to pre-conference information, it presumably did meet. The second part of the conference was to be held in Tulear, to examine local mineral resources. In addition to local experts, visiting specialists were invited from Western Germany, France, Italy, USA, Canada, Brazil, Australia, Mali, Nigeria, Zaire, Lesotho, China, Japan and USSR.
Reference to all these countries is a reminder that Madagascar has its special place in relation to the cultures of Africa. The long-awaited exhibition of African textiles opened at the Museum of Mankind (Burlington Gardens, near Piccadilly) in December 1979. One Section is devoted to Madagascar, as is a chapter in the substantial and handsome book on sale at the entrance. The exhibition will probably remain for several months.
A number of topics which have been prominent in the press recently may make one think of something to do with Madagascar, either in the past or in the present; for example, Marco Polo, inflation, numbers, gold and energy. The next few paragraphs deal in that way with these topics. Italy and China are working together to make a film about Marco Polo, the man to whom in practical terms it seems we owe the name ‘Madagascar’, even though scholars continue to debate the etymology. Perhaps in the film Madagascar can hope for little more than at best a passing reference as a traveller’s tale about a distant island which Marco Polo himself never saw; though a producer might think that huge birds carrying enormous animals up into the sky and dropping them would make some striking shots.
The franc has had a run of about 85 years. But despite its legal status it never entirely supplanted the Ariary (worth 5 francs and formerly translated as ‘dollar’) nor the less valuable ‘sikajy’, ‘lasiroa’ and other terms. One result was that though coins and notes were in francs, in public meetings financial figures often had to be given in both currencies. Skill in mental arithmetic was a ‘must’ for audiences expected no hesitation. Now, however, it has been decided that the new nickel coinage is to be in ariary (also found on recent stamps). To mark the change, the Royal Mint was commissioned to produce 5,000 of each of the 10 and 20 ariary coins (ie 50 and 100frs) in Sterling silver. Four thousand are for general sale throughout the world at £15.96 the set. Application forms for ‘Two Coins from Madagascar’ are obtainable from the Royal Mint, Numismatic Bureau, PO Box 6, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, Mid-Glam. As with other currencies, inflation has eroded the strength of the Malagasy ariary. In 1980 it costs 19 ariary (95frs) to send a 5g letter by air to London. But a century ago on the east coast 19 ariary would buy you nearly 800 lbs of white rice. However, if inflation has destroyed the value of the ariary, few tears will be shed over the disappearance of almost all the terms for lesser sums. A list published in the 1880s gave no less than 102 subdivisions of the ariary (each with a special name to describe it) which had to be weighed on scales with tiny bits of cut money. They have become irrelevant.
In Britain some people are bothered by numbers, as by metrication or by receiving communications from certain countries in which the familiar order of days and months in a date has been reversed. In Madagascar too figures have become a problem: only a mild example of a clash of cultures, but one which can be awkward in everyday life when dealing with the numbers of cars, telephones and identity cards, or even writing or typing at dictation. The Academie Malgache has had to step in with advice. In English and French, numbers are pronounced beginning with the highest and proceeding to the lowest – in written terms, moving from left to right. But in Malagasy you begin with the lowest, eg ‘one and three tens and six hundreds and five thousands and one hundred thousand’. How then to avoid confusion when the local mathematical method is different from the method implied by skills and instruments from elsewhere? Hitherto some have treated telephone numbers, for example, in the style of ‘thirty-two/sixty-four’, in French, for 3264. Briefly, the Academie’s solution is to say that, first, telephone numbers are not to be thought of as being similar to, say, the number of inhabitants in a town. They are really conventional signs. So, second, when dealing with telephones, cars, identity cards individual figures should be celled from left to right: 22697 is ‘two two six nine seven’.
The recent increase in gold prices is a reminder that Madagascar has its gold. There was even a miniature gold-rush of miners from other countries in the 1890s. A gravestone in a lonely area still carries the name of Sidney Smith and points to the price that some had to pay. It has known too a strange tale of saltings (in 1905) which succeeded in misleading a number of honest and technically competent men. It has been said that the man behind it was neither English nor French; that the ‘pitfalls of South African law’ make it impossible to be more specific; and that the name would in fact ‘provoke amazement, incredulity and mirth’. Exploitation of Malagasy gold has usually been by sluice-washing. The largest Company produced 140 kilos in 1933. But in recent decades some have thought that the prices they could obtain locally were too low to encourage vigorous exploitation of some of the workings. The British geologist Sir Roderick Murchison wrote that Madagascar would eventually prove to be perhaps the richest gold-bearing country in the world. Maybe its day has not yet come. But for the curious visitor to shake a sort of winnowing fan for a few minutes at the invitation of the owner of the ‘concession’ and eventually to see a tiny gleam in the centre reflecting the sunlight can give rise to a quick thought about a Golden Age – in the future.
Much has been said and written in Madagascar about the rise in the price of petrol and as in Britain there is talk about finding various local sources for energy. Previous Letters have referred to the revival of development plans for the Sakoa coal deposits in the southwest and a British firm is taking part in some research in that connection. One or two more rivers are to be harnessed – and anyone familiar with the eastern forest knows how many more waterfalls there are which come tumbling down from above one’s head. Perhaps for technical reasons or because of capital expense nobody seems to have suggested harnessing the tides, or the very powerful bores on some rivers in the west. But a Malagasy writer has recently put forward three suggestions. First, sun-power, according to his calculations, the ‘power’ of the sun falling on the island is 73,000 times the island’s needs in energy; and he estimates that the energy actually required could be obtained by harnessing the power of the sun over a surface of 100 square kilometres. One special advantage he singles out is that in the south solar pumps could be used for irrigation. (It may be noted in passing that nothing seems to have come of the specially commissioned Westinghouse report on obtaining fresh water from seawater, for irrigation etc in that area). Second, Biogaz, to be produced from animal and household waste could provide domestic electricity. Third, wind-power – an extension of the small windmills which have long been seen on a few individual houses in rural areas.
A conference on Development in Africa was organised by the World Council of Churches at Antsirabe in November 1979. The Secretary in charge of projects for Francophone Africa at headquarters in Geneva is M Max Rafransoa, who was preceded in his post by M Frederic Randriamamonjy who for some time has been Madagascar’s Ambassador in Moscow. Christian Aid has provided help for some projects in Madagascar, including the farm at Andanona, east of Antananarivo, and was represented by its Francophone Africa Projects Officer, Miss B Walker. Among other matters, the Conference emphasised that the most skilled persons in a nation should not work ‘for’ the people (as, it was claimed, many are said to think they are doing) but rather should work ‘with’ them. Further, it was said that wealthy nations should examine more carefully their motives in providing development aid.
There are at least six Malagasy students spending a year or so in the UK in Manchester, Birmingham, Colchester, Bedford, London and Chichester, studying among other subjects, theology and linguistics. One has come in the middle of a course at a University in France, in which country there is probably the largest number of expatriate Malagasy. In March 1979 the Malagasy Ambassador in Moscow said, in Antananarivo, that 400 Malagasy students were given scholarships by the USSR. It seems that now the figure has been raised to a regular 200 students per annum for a four-year course. How many Malagasy are living in the UK in 1980, It is difficult to be sure, but apart from those going for brief visits as tourists, for conferences or for quick research, the total in the first few months of the year probably hardly exceeds twenty of all ages.
A Christian Council of Madagascar was publicly inaugurated in January 1980 by the four major Churches: The Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, the Lutheran Church, the Malagasy Episcopal (Anglican) Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Among other shared activities there has been cooperation in considering certain public issues and it is remembered that the Church leaders, working together, played a crucial part in the difficult circumstances of 1972. The new Council will enable the Churches to speak with greater authority on subjects of continuing public interest.
Two British experts and their wives left in late 1979 to be ‘temporarily permanent’ residents in Antananarivo. They are to help in two interesting areas of technical aid. Dr J Williams is to help with the full and speedy analysis of meteorological information which comes in. It seems that there has been too much weather for local resources to cope with – but now it will be tackled with a computer by Dr Williams and a Chinese expert. A further aim is to link the information eventually gained by analysis to agriculture in order to try to forecast probable yields. Squadron-leader P Moore, on the other hand, is advising on air-safety procedures and no doubt will also have to consider search and rescue services. Madagascar has had its accidents, but fortunately they have been comparatively few in relation to the number of flights over the last four or five decades. There have been some crashes of military aircraft and some private planes (sometimes because they broke regulations). In public transport perhaps the only major accident was that of 1967. Some incidents have involved helicopters, as when that carrying President Tsiranana and others suddenly dropped, though from a low height; the Prime Minister was killed in a crash in 1976 (and the former ‘British’ Rue Georges V in Faravohitra commemorates him with the new name of ‘Lalana Joel Rakotomalala’).
And lastly a note on publication. Mention has been made before of Oberle Tananarive et l’Imerina. A second volume by the same writer has now appeared: Provinces Malgaches: Art, Histoire, Tourisme; 228pp; 343 photos. It is available for 140 francs, post free, from Editions Kintana, 29 Rue Traversière, 68400, Riedsheim, France. A third volume Madagascar, Sanctuaire de la Nature is announced for 1980. Hommes et Destins is the title of a substantial Dictionnaire Biographique d’Outre-Mer edited by R Cornevin, the historian of Africa, and published by the Academie des Sciences d'Outre-Mer, Paris. Persons of all nationalities who were prominent in areas which at some time were under French control are included. Among them are some ‘nationalist leaders’ who rejected that French control. Volume I contained a few Madagascar personalities; but Volume III is entirely devoted to Madagascar. A member of the Society was asked to write the original English text (to be edited and published in French) of several notices of British people (and two Malagasy). Tho choice of names (Baron, Chick, Ellis, Oliver and others) depended largely on the possibility of producing manuscripts at short notice. Some have remained in the editor’s hands, for a proposed second volume on Madagascar. There has long been a Department of Malagasy Language, Literature and Civilisation in the University. The Department has just published the first number of a six-monthly review called Hiratra (overseas subscription 3,200 FMG pa). The Introduction explains that it will publish articles in various languages (the first number has French and Malagasy) and emphasizes that that policy of ‘plurilinguisme’ is intended to express the aim of ‘satisfying the demands not only of Malgachisation and of democratisation but also of openness and of the bringing together or resources from all quarters in the area of research on Malagasy language, literature, civilisation and culture’.