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The dominant trend in environmental studies has assumed that people ruin the natural environment. The contributors to Greening the Great Red Island: Madagascar in Nature and Culture challenge this assumption, not for its elements of obvious truthfulness, but its oversimplification. Diverse social-environmental perspectives on Madagascar demonstrate that Madagascar's rural people have dynamic, historical and complex relationships with their environments. Conservation organisations working to preserve Madagascar's biological megadiversity may achieve negative results if they start with the wrong assumptions. Combining potent theoretical and methodological analysis with detailed case studies from across the island of Madagascar, this collection will appeal to those doing research and teaching in African studies, anthropology, development, environmental studies, geography, history, political science and zoology. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An important read
Jeff Kaufmann has brought together a great collection of writings in this book.Many scholars deal with the people and biodiversity of Madagascar, and there is no shortage of social critiques of the conservation movement.However all to often such critiques are difficult to find, are published in little known jounals or remain restricted to thedoctoral theses where they were first developed.

This book presents in a single volume 14 chapters authored by scholars and conservation practitioners, giving many useful insights into the difficulties of resolving the dual challenge of rural development and biodiversity consevation in Madagascar. The studies also come from across Madagascar from Mananara-Nord to the Mahafaly and from Ranomafana to the Menabe.Another important feat which Kaufmann achieves is spanning the atlantic and the northern and southern hemispheres - authors come from organisations and universities in north america, across europe as well as Australia and Madagascar.

We should hope that the publication of this book will spark increased debate and discussion both between scholars from different academic disciplines, as well as between the social critics of the conservation movement and the conservationits themselves. It is only through such dialogue that better policies for people and nature will be moulded.Thoroughly reccomended. ... Read more

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s a field biologist, Heather Heying has been to some of the most remote, creature-filled places on the globe. But nothing she had previously experienced quite prepared her for the three seasons she spent in Madagascar studying poisonous frogs. An anciet island, it is also a scientists paradisealmost all of the wildlife there is endemic. However, Madagascars society is almost as unique as its nature. Language and cultural barriers, combined with bureaucratic red tape, can make it a scientists worst nightmare. Through anecdotes that are in turn hilarious, insightful, and beautiful, Heather recounts her adventuresfrom run-ins with naked sailors and unusually hostile lemurs to tropical hurricanes and greedy tourist entrepreneurs. As she carefully navigates a path through many obstacles, she not only reaches a gradual understanding of her place as a female Westerner in a foreign society, but reaffirms her intense love for and desire to save the stunning wildlife that surrounds her there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A very enjoyable insight into Madagascar
I read this when traveling to Madagascar to get a sense of what the place was like.I found this book to be very descriptive, informative and enjoyable.Heather is a frog researcher.I was a bit bothered by how frogs are marked and what I learned about frog research, but setting that aside the rest of the book was very good.Heather talks about the nitty gritty of travel - getting from point A to B, what there is (or isn't) in the way of facilities and food, etc.But, mostly, she focuses on her interactions with the local Malagasy people and her life on the isolated island of Nosy Mangabe.Although she was there in the late 1990's, she probably didn't begin to foresee that Nosy Mangabe would become such a tourist island.Today, it is easier to reach and well worth the trip if you get to Madagascar.I found reading this gave me a much deeper appreciation and perspective on my trip than I would otherwise have had.

Transporting
A writer who can transport someone from the hard concrete unnatural world of NYC to a bambo well thousand of miles away in a remote tropical forrest has to be one I love!Really loved the connection to nature this brought for me.I'd love to read another travel log of Ms. Heyings.

A great look at Malagasy culture from a western viewpoint.
This book is focuses on what it's like for a western biologist (herpetologist) to go to Madagascar to study frogs. Heather Heying has a wonderful way with words that creates vibrant images of what she saw, heard, and felt while living there. Most of the focus is on cultural issues, including her own culture shock. Wildlife is used as a means of conveying her experiences and the experiences of the Malagasy people, not as the thrust or purpose of the book. I highly recommend this if you are at all interested in the people of Madagascar. This is a very well-written, engaging account.

A great read
Heying is a terrific writer and a keen observer of the world around her. She has traveled to Madagascar to research the behavior of tiny poisonous frogs but finds herself equally challenged by the strange behavior of the island's human inhabitants. The book is a thoughtful exploration of the predicament faced by forest creatures, the Malagasy people, and ultimately, the author herself. For those not lucky enough (or brave enough) to live in a remote tropical forest, this book provides a vivid portrait of the experience. ... Read more

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Introduces the geography, history, religious beliefs, government, and people of Madagascar. ... Read more

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Studies interconnections between sound production, spirit possession, colonialism and ceremonial remembering in Madagascar. ... Read more

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Unwrapping the Textile Traditions of Madagascar presents the first extensive treatment of Madagascar's textile traditions region by region, giving a systematic overview of the woven products of each part of the country. It includes types of cloth that have previously been overlooked and explores contrasting uses and meanings among the highly varied cultures of the island. It also publishes for the first time many of the remarkable cloths from the collection assembled by Ralph Linton in 1926 and 1927 for the Field Museum.which represents perhaps as much as 50 percent of the textile heritage of Madagascar.

Beautiful color illustrations and scholarly commentary make this book useful for scholars, connoisseurs, and heritage-preservation experts, as well as weavers interested in reviving traditional techniques and designs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

place of textile garments in multicultural African society
As major Madagascar art forms, shawls, dresses, loose-fitting shirts, and also burial shrouds are "fundamental to an individual's ethnic, ideological, spiritual, social, political, and economic identities." These and similar garments have such a place because of the "ease with which cloth can be manipulated." Among some groups in Madagascar, textiles woven by hand and simple, age-old, tools are central in relations between the living and deceased ancestors with the changing of decayed burial shrouds for new ones. Eleven essays by authors with a surprisingly eclectic background--including college teachers in archaeology and ethnology, museum curators, a biologist, and a poet--focus on particular topics of this African island nation's textiles attracting wide notice because of their quality of production, colorfulness, and social significance. An island that has for centuries been a crossroads of trade and migrations from southern Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, Madagascar textiles are particularly complex and diverse; and because of this historical background, they have special meaning for the different groups of the society, as well as for interaction among groups. Textile traditions in different geographical areas, reviews of collections of textiles, the wear of textiles at social events, and the island's silk moths are among the topics. Numerous color photographs, some close-ups in which the weave of a garment can be seen, make for appreciation of the varied textiles; while other photographs exhibit inhabitants of Madagascar wearing the textiles in social activities or ceremonies.
... Read more

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Madagascar has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

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This Book Is In French. ... Read more

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This is a horticultural work guiding the amateur orchid grower in the selection, culture and environments of these orchids, which have only been available in the last two years. To that end the book includes sections on such native habitat characteristics as climate, soils and vegetation. It also describes every presently observed species in the seven genera of the Angraecoid group, plus those species of other orchid genera native to Madagascar. ... Read more

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During the early 20th century, a group of ex-slaves established a frontier society in the no-man's-land of the extreme Southern Highlands of Madagascar. First settlers skilfully deployed a fluid set of Malagasy customs to implant a myth of themselves as tompon-tany or "masters of the land". Eventually, they created a land monopoly to reinforce their legitimacy and to exclude later migrants. Some of them were labelled "andevo" ("slave" or "slave descent"). The tompon-tany prohibited the andevo from owning land, and thereby from having tombs. This work focuses on the plight of the tombless andevo, and how their ascribed impurity and association with infertility, illness, death and misfortune made them as essential part of the tompon-tany world-view. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 3689 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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This Book Is In French. ... Read more

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Would you trust a squad of trash-talking Penguins to fly a plane? Probably not, but for Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, and Melman the giraffe there isn't much choice if they ever hope to see the Central Park Zoo again. Join your favorite Manhattan menagerie in The Art of Madagascar for a look into their wild ride from their first trip to the island paradise to their venture into the African savannah in the upcoming sequel Madagascar: the Crate Escape.

The Art of Madagascar explores how the zoo comes to life featuring an untamed look into the visual effects and development from the Dreamworks team that brought you Shrek and Shark Tale. Discover how animators incorporated animal idiosyncrasies into each character, how digital avatars were tailored to voice actors, and the inside scoop on those darn penguins. The abundance of behind the scenes visuals, information, and special features in the The Art of Madagascar is sure to drive kids and anyone's creative curiosity wild. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great Book
This book is much more than I Expected. There is a lot of sketches and rendered drawings inside, greater than great ! Totally recomended !

Brilliant book!
the art of .......of dreamwork books are all really really good! the best out there!

Some paintings deserve to be printed bigger
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1MHZ4IXE5C2WK This art book follows a style very similar to The Art of Kung Fu Panda. Character art is presented before background location art.

There are lots of character designs, background paintings and even discarded storyboards and art. In-depth descriptions are included before each character or location. These stories contain stuff like character motivations, challenges to creating Africa the continent and production strategies to make characters more prominent in New York City and other stuff.

All these make for very interesting read on the production and creative process.

However, the book is strange at some parts. There are some incredibly detailed paintings which were printed at only 4 inches wide. Lots of details can't be seen. While some of the full page rendition of the main characters are great, some really don't deserve to be blown up that big because of -- again -- the lack of detail. I really don't think broad pencil sketches for Marty the zebra should command a single page, as do the 3D render of Gloria the hippo.

Some of the beautiful scene paintings really deserve a bigger canvas.

Once the section for background location art starts, the book becomes considerably much better. Now, most of the digital paintings are displayed big for all the glory.

On the last few pages includes the discarded characters and storyboard. There's also a page on 4 stages of production and another page on props. There are not many movie stills, which is great.

Unfortunately, I cannot comment on whether the book contains art from both the movie because I've yet to watch them.

Overall, this is still a pretty fun art book to get.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

Lots of fun stuff
Lots of fun stuff and images from Madagascar 1 and 2.
Dreamworks makes more realistic movies. Madagascar is one of fun and cartoon style. I love the characters on this movies and this books show how they changed from the original drawing to the show. Tons of Development stuffs. Although the style is very simple, shows lots of details. my only complain is that the color seems bit dull compared with other Art of books that I have. Printed not on glossy papers, that is why...?

Not worth the looking :(
Sadly, I just sent this book back to Amazon. I was really looking forward to this and it was a great disappointment. In no way does this book come close to any of the other "Making of" animation books that I have. This book is more a re-hash of the first movie. Maybe the title should have been "Art of the Madagascar movies". All it seems to be is a description of the characters from the film. Very little of interest is mentioned about the second film. This is the first book from Amazon that I have ever returned. Maybe the studio will make a better one after the film is released. I would not recommend this one at all to anyone who is familiar with the quality of other published "Making of" or "Art of" books. ... Read more

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Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced byDreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zooanimals who have spent their lives in blissful captivityand are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, gettingshipwrecked on the island of Madagascar. The voices of BenStiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock, and DavidSchwimmer are featured. Other voices include Andy Richter,Sacha Baron Cohen, and Cedric the Entertainer. Madagascarwas released on DVD on November 15, 2005, along with theshort film, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper. ABlu-ray Disc version was released on September 23, 2008. Asequel, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, was released onNovember 7, 2008. The third film in the series is plannedfor summer 2012. ... Read more