Project Description

framed watercolor

Dimensional view : 16 cm x 25 cm

Signed lower right – 1934

Malagasy market scene zoma 1934 – Analytical – Antananarivo

His creation,

en revient au king Andrianampoinimerina, from the end of the 18th century, on the place of Andohalo, place where royal decisions are also announced. It is open to all peasants of Imerina, it is not limited to an economic role and becomes a major meeting place regardless of caste, the social environment. It is indeed one of the institutional foundations of the city., as well as a place of sociability embodying a form of “tananarivian citizenship”.

“Place where huge white umbrellas invaded the esplanade every Friday hence the name "zoma" to become the time of one day a week, the largest open-air market in the world”

The Zoma is moved several times, to settle permanently under French colonization in 1930 in the neighborhood of Analakety.

In suppression :

Despite this symbolic attachment to the Zoma, the inhabitants of Antananarivo hardly protested when the municipality abolished it at the end of the years 1990. It has deteriorated sharply, the market has become a foil, and conveys an image of anarchy, of insecurity and ruralization that city dwellers reject. And the study of the representations and practices attached to the Zoma makes it possible to update the identity tensions and to understand that this market is at the heart of the fragile definition of urbanity..

Similarly, the issues surrounding its removal underline : destabilizations, recent reconstructions of the urban landscape, Tananarivian society and the role of municipal authorities. Thus the status of Zoma is a good indicator of the malaise that characterizes urban identity..

Source : The abolition of the Zoma Tananarive market Catherine Fournet-Guerin Department of Geography University of Reims.

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