ABSTRACT
The rural region between Ambalavao and Ankaramena (about fifty kilometres to the southwest of Ambalavao) in the extreme Southern Highlands, hereafter referred to as the ‘Region’, was the focus of research I carried out over a ten-year period (1989-99).1 As my research progressed, I increasingly concentrated on the village of Marovato,2 which proved to be fertile ground for examining the emergence and consolidation of an elite grouping.3 Since Marovato’s inception during the 1930s, the first settlers of the village had entrenched their status by using the ideology and terminology of tombs and ancestors.They mobilised their interpretation of history and culture to maintain boundaries of exclusion and lend legitimacy to their authority.
