Perspectives on French Colonial Madagascar

Eric T. Jennings is Distinguished Professor of the History of France and the Francophonie at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is the author of several books on French colonial history, and has received a John Simon Guggenheim fellowship as well as grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

“The most interesting aspect of the book is the way it shows how individuals can turn out to play decisive parts in both the making of colonial politics and its application. … Jennings’s book is well-researched and an enjoyable read. It will inarguably prove valuable to scholars and students of colonialism and French history.” (Violaine Tisseau, The American Historical Review, Vol. 124 (2), April, 2019)“Jennings’s well-written study discusses the colony’s devastating sanitary crisis on the islands of Nosy Be, Nosy Komba, and Sainte-Marie (caused by malarialand typhoid fevers, dysentery, smallpox … . this book would be interesting to historians, anthropologists, and French teachers, and could be used as a reader in courses discussing France’s colonial history,which all too often focus solely on Algeria.” (Christa Jones, French Review, Vol. 92 (3), March, 2019)

• 1. Introduction.- I. Health, Power and Vulnerability.- 2. Disease and Conquest.- 3. Rabies and Resistance.- II. The Great Island in Global Conflict, 1914-1945.- 4. The Black Angel of Antananarivo.- 5. Tyranny in the Wartime Central Highlands.- III. The Mystery of Malagasy Origins.- 6. Writing Madagascar Back into the Madagascar Plan.- 7. Recasting Madagascar: Village Structures, Racial Anthropology, and the Meanings of Cliff Markings.