Mission, Vision & Values

Mission: The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project is a cultural anthropology course-based project meant to raise critical consciousness about the rich cultural diversity in our indigenous world. Being totally aware of the limitations of being outsiders, we are a group of multidisciplinary undergraduate students who believe in cross-cultural sensitivity and participatory agency aimed at disseminating information about indigenous realities as accurately as possible. 

Vision: The iCross-Cultural Citizen Project’s vision is to create an online cross-cultural space for students, professionals, and youth to learn and exchange cross-culturally sensitive information about contemporary indigenous experiences. From that outsider student’s perspective, we will try to theoretically explore possible collaborative solutions to problems that affect the indigenous populations of our planet. Finally, we hope for the future creation of a space where indigenous youth can share their experiences and their realities with us for real mutual collaboration to take place. 

Values: 

 We value the maximization of benefits to indigenous peoples and other vulnerable populations in the world. 

 We value the respect for persons all over the world. 

 We value the equal treatment of people, and we are against the exploitation of vulnerable groups around the world. 

 We value collaborative cross-cultural learning and critical thinking.

Geographic Location

The Bara lives in the grasslands of south-central Madagascar. There are not many roads and it is not very accessible by vehicles. They are believed to have migrated to the island between 1500-2100 years ago. Their main focus is cattle livestock and farming. Their climate is hot and mostly dry. The wet season is the hottest time of the year. Throughout the year there is a monsoon season where is rains almost every day. It has random cyclones and they are very harmful to their environment.

 

 

The Bara of Madagascar. Electronic document,

http://prayafrica.org/bara/, accessed May 31, 2015

 

Madagascar Weather, climate, and geography. Electronic document,

http://worldtravelguide.net/madagascar/weather-climate-geography, accessed 2015

Background Information

The Bara tribe live in the grasslands of south-central Madagascar, Africa, and are believed to have arrived to the island around 1500-2100 years ago. They are traditionally cattle people, but recently this has been changing due to the discovery of sapphires near the area. When it comes to religion, they believe in a god who is distant and rely on their ancestors for guidance and blessing. Their complex system of rituals, taboos, and practices play a key role in their everyday lifestyle. Although their culture revolves heavily around cattle, the risk of Bara people keeping cattle is very high due to the unrest caused by cattle thieves in the region. Because of this, the Bara are transitioning more towards farming.

The Bara of Madagascar. Electronic document,
http://prayafrica.org/bara/, accessed May 31, 2015

The History of the Bara

Not much is known about the early part of the Bara people's history, as most of the data comes from the kingdom era and French colonial rule. The Bara traditionally were organized through kinship-based structures in their early history until a Mahafaly noble invaded the region and established a dynasty ruled by the members of his family line under the name of the Zafimanely. After the nobleman's death a power struggle ensued, disrupting Bara life until the early nineteenth-century when Raikitroka, a Zafimanely king, ushered in an era of peace.


After Raikitroka's death the family line split into multiple principalities and by 1895 the Bara were divided into three major kingdoms and over twenty lesser kingdoms. During the 19th century conquests of the Merina Kingdom the Bara managed to evade subjection, even with the dispersed power of the many kingdoms.


Even though the power was dispersed among multiple kingdoms, the noble Zafimanely rulers rivaled the Merina and Sakalava Kingdoms as a top political force in Madagascar. This all changed when the French colonized the island in the late nineteenth-century. The French dissolved all standing kingdoms on the island and tried to assimilate the Bara people, which was not possible due to being in separate kingdoms for so long. A rebellion ensued in 1897 against French rule by the Bara people and the whole of southern Madagascar rebelled in 1904-05. The French remained in control of Madagascar until the late twentieth-century.



Encyclopedia Britannica
   2014 Bara. Electronic Document,
      http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/52506/Bara, accessed June 3, 2015


Ellis, Stephen
   2014 The Rising of the Red Shawls. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.


Ogot, Bethwell A.
   1992 Africa from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Paris: UNESCO.

Family Life

The Bara tribe is classified as "semi-nomadic with a strong ethnic cohesion". There are frequent "blood brotherhood ceremonies", which increase the bonds within their family and help to make them as solid as possible since the "blood-brother" tie is considered to be stronger than family ties. The division of labor within the family is very traditional and much like other African tribes. The men prepare the rice fields, raise the cattle, sheep and goats, build the houses, harvest the food, hunt, and fight. On the other hand, women collect and gather, get water, clean the house, cook, weave mats and other supplies, and care for their children. Women also have specific duties to help the men in the rice fields.

When it comes to family tradition, the most popular is that boys who want to get married have to steal a Zebu (a type of cattle) in order to prove to the girl's parents that he has courage. He then has to pay the cattle as the price for his future wife. In recent years, however, this has led to many conflicts between the people of the South region due to the fact that it can lead to the death of the cattle thieves, which they call "dahalo". Before the marriage proposal, the young men and women meet and the women often wear a comb in their usually braided hair to show that they are available. They also gift oil for hair care to the one they love. 

Most Bara live a polygamous lifestyle, which sometimes worsens the problems surrounding those of cattle thievery. They traditionally practice "Zebu rodeos", where young Bara men try to stay on the back of an angry bull for as long as possible. This tightens family bonds, but occasionally a Bara will die from this and is buried in a natural cave. The bereaved then cut their hair to express their mourning as well as take the time to remember the deceased. Bara people view the spirits of the dead as dangerous and will sometimes move locations in order to save people's lives. 

Trip Down Memory Lane, Electronic document. Nd.
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/07/bara-people-madagascarss.html, accessed June 2, 2015.

Tribes of Madagascar, Electronic document. Nd.
http://www.madamagazine.com/en/volksgruppen-madagaskars/, accessed June 3, 2015.

Language

The Bara Tribe had two main kingdoms that spoke different languages, one of the  kingdoms was split up by the French causing it to loose part of it's language and culture. The current day Bara people speak Malagasy, Malagasy is a language mostly spoken in Madagascar by over 18 million people. Malagasy is a African Born language but has migrated and is now nearly only spoken in Madagascar with some small tribes speaking it. Malagasy is a very basic language with a large majority of the words spoken dealing with animal husbandry and hunting/gathering.

The Bara religion, and their rituals.

    The Bara tribe’s religion is ATR which stands for African traditional religion and it practiced by a good percentage of the people. It is the source of their ancestral customs an important element to the Bara tribe. ATR encompasses all African beliefs and practices that are considered religious but neither Christian nor Islamic. The religion is based on oral traditions, meaning it is passed from ancestors to the younger generations. Ancestors are the most trusted and the final authority. Religion for the Bara creates a sense of security as well as community. The community is the most important part of their lives; the community is made up of people who remember and share the same religion. In ATR ancestors are part of every major event (i.e. weddings, births, deaths).

    Their main stages of life are marked with ceremonies to maintain order between the human world and the world beyond. The Bara do not pray to God but, to Zanahary who made hands and feet and, many sacrifices for the living and the dead. Rites practiced by the Bara are bilo which is an exorcism through helo, savaste their word for circumcision, various sacrifices, funeral rites and divination. Soro is a prayer offered to the Zanahary and ancestors, it can only be officiated by the patriarch. In case of the bilo (exorcism), sacrifices for marriage are to be made or when there are serious faults committed like incest/breaking taboo sacrifices are required to prevent disastrous consequences. Anyone can call on superhuman powers, especially on the Helo, which are spirits of life, living nature, to make a vow, and to ask a favor in exchange for the sacrifice of a sheep or chicken, for which patriarch’s intervention isn’t required.

    Three elements are present for all sacrificial rites. Tata-prayer calling on Zanahary and the ancestors; soro-sacrifice of the victim usually a cow or rice; and tsipirano- a blessing sprinkling of water during prayer or mixture of water and blood after the sacrifice.



African traditional religion, N.d., Electronic document.
http://www.sahistory.org.za/african-traditional-religion, accessed June 3, 2015


Trip down memory lane, 2013, Electronic document.
http://kwekudee-tripdownmemorylane.blogspot.com/2013/07/bara-people-madagascarss.html, accessed June 2, 2015