Andrew Walsh’s Made in Madagascar

Since the 1990s, the Ankarana region of northern Madagascar has developed a reputation among globe-trotting gemstone traders and tourists as a source of some of the world's most precious natural wonders. Although some might see Ankarana's sapphire and ecotourist trades as being at odds with each other, many local people understand these trades to be fundamentally connected, most obviously in how both serve foreign demand for what Madagascar has to offer the world. Through his ethnography Made in Madagascar, anthropologist Andrew Walsh explores the tensions and speculations that have come with the parallel emergence of these two trades with sensitivity and a critical eye, allowing for insights into globalization, inequality, and the appeal of the “natural.”
In this assignment, you will present a review of the ethnography Made in Madagascar that critically examines how the text draws on and contributes to knowledge in five areas of cultural anthropology (see list below for topics). The five issues you select must be chosen from the following list:
Ethnography and Research Methods
Language/Linguistics
Worldview, religion and ritual
Kinship and Family
Race/Ethnicity
Sex/Gender
Subsistence and Economics
Politics and Power
Globalization
Environment and Sustainability
For example, if you select ethnography/research methods, you could describe and analyze the types of research methods used by Walsh, and whether you think the approach was successful. If you choose language/linguistics, you could examine the linguistic analysis Walsh presents in the text, and what we can learn about the cultures of sapphire mining and/or ecotourism from this analysis.
The review should be approximately 1800 words, including an introduction, five body paragraphs (1 paragraph per topic) and a conclusion. Each paragraph should be approximately 300 words. Quotations and/or examples from the ethnography should be referenced using APA format (author year: pg#). There is no need to include a bibliography as sources outside of required course readings are not needed.
Structure of the Review
I. Introduction
An introduction to a book/film review is generally short and direct. However, it must provide two key elements: background information on the topic and a clear thesis.
Background: First, your introduction should identify the general topic and materials (book and film) under review. So, your introduction should provide a general overview of what the ethnography is about.
Thesis: Somewhere in your introduction (generally toward the end) you must provide a succinct, clear statement that identifies your primary argument in the paper. This evaluation is the thesis for your review and explains what you will be saying in the paper. In this case, you should briefly explain which of the five areas of anthropology you will be exploring through your review, and whether you think the text does a good job of providing useful insights into these topics.
For example, your thesis could say:
In this review, I will be exploring how Andrew Walsh’s ethnography Made in Madagascar draws on and contributes to anthropology knowledge in five areas, including economic anthropology, political anthropology, kinship and family, globalization, and environment and sustainability.
II. Evaluation/Analysis
This section should constitute the bulk of your paper. In it, you need to explain and develop the evaluation made in your thesis. Take great care not to simply summarize the book, but describe and evaluate what we can learn about five areas of cultural anthropology from this text. In this section, each topic should be covered in its own paragraph, and each should be about 300 words in length. This section should include:
Your evaluation of the strengths and contributions or weaknesses and shortcomings of the text.
Use of specific evidence and examples from each to show how and/or in what ways the work(s) demonstrates these strengths and weaknesses. All examples and quotations from the book should be cited with page numbers.
III. Conclusion
Your conclusion should provide a succinct summation of your review. Overall, how does this ethnography contribute to knowledge in the five areas of anthropology you have selected? How effective is the ethnography in helping us understand sapphire mining and ecotourism in Madagascar from an anthropological perspective?
The book that needs to be used is called
Made in Madagascar: sapphires, ecotourism, and the global bazaar
Walsh, Andrew