Vivian Abadi
05/24/24
ANT 1001
Final paper
People Matter
While you may be working in the same industry as another person, that does not mean
that they have the same point of view as you. This idea is represented in the book Made in
Madagascar: Sapphires, Ecotourism, and the Global Bazaar by Andrew Walsh. This book shows
the concerns and tension between Madagascar's sapphire and ecotourism trades. It is primarily a
"teaching" book, where Walsh talks about his ideas regarding different opinions on topics such
as sapphires and ecotourism and the different point of views that may be taken from each topic.
We need to hear each person's story from the industry because they each represent different
people and their ideas. One actor can not speak for another. Walsh published his book in 2012
and it reflects his deep knowledge of social life and ecotourism of Ankarana, which is now a
major ecotourism destination. The book also shows Walsh’s knowledge over Ambondromifehy
which is a sapphire boomtown, in northern Madagascar. Do all people think positively regarding
these topic, or are they all considered individual “actors” and each have their own opinion? Let’s
find out!
Before learning about different points of views on sapphires, let’s learn a little about
them, their value, and how they are collected. Anybody living in Ambondromifehy who wasn’t
mining sapphires was either trading or selling them. Sapphires were important and was a
, booming industry. Sapphires were bringing people from all over the world into
Ambondromifehy. Even though sapphire was a popular stone all around the world, it served no
purpose to the people in Ambondromifehy except for selling. Not only was it useless for the
people it was also extremely dangerous for the minors. Walsh shares an interaction he had with a
man by the name of Koko as well as a man named Jao. Koko was a 21 year old man and moved
away from his home to live in Ambondromifehy. Jao moved to Ambondromifehy 2 years before
Koko and had previously mined gold in his old town. Both have worked in the sapphire industry
and explain to us what it was like. They would often work with some sort of technology and
would often share their work load with their wives. Along with mining came a huge risk. We
learn through the story that Koko and Jao tell us about in the book. Everyday when they woke
up to go mining they would have to crawl through a cave to find sapphires. While they were
crawling through the cave they got cuts on their arms and knees due to the space being enclosed
and rocks being hard and tough. They also tell us about the chasm called the fall of death. The
reason why the chasm is named the fall of death is because it is a big hole that you can not see
the bottom of. The only way that you could cross it is if you were using a small rope. If your grip
is not strong enough and you accidentally let go of the rope, you’ll fall to your death. They had
to take this risk every day. After crawling through the caves and risking your life you were then
faced with an extremely hot room. When Koko and Jao reached the place where they had to dig,
they suddenly couldn’t breathe. They could not breathe because of the extremely high
temperature in the cave, but still had to work there from 9 AM until 3 PM. They would
sometimes work until 9 pm. Koko and Jao didn’t describe this journey as going to work, they
described it as going to risk. They had to work long hours under dangerous conditions. They
even had to crawl through others bathroom remains just to get to their workplace. If their
05/24/24
ANT 1001
Final paper
People Matter
While you may be working in the same industry as another person, that does not mean
that they have the same point of view as you. This idea is represented in the book Made in
Madagascar: Sapphires, Ecotourism, and the Global Bazaar by Andrew Walsh. This book shows
the concerns and tension between Madagascar's sapphire and ecotourism trades. It is primarily a
"teaching" book, where Walsh talks about his ideas regarding different opinions on topics such
as sapphires and ecotourism and the different point of views that may be taken from each topic.
We need to hear each person's story from the industry because they each represent different
people and their ideas. One actor can not speak for another. Walsh published his book in 2012
and it reflects his deep knowledge of social life and ecotourism of Ankarana, which is now a
major ecotourism destination. The book also shows Walsh’s knowledge over Ambondromifehy
which is a sapphire boomtown, in northern Madagascar. Do all people think positively regarding
these topic, or are they all considered individual “actors” and each have their own opinion? Let’s
find out!
Before learning about different points of views on sapphires, let’s learn a little about
them, their value, and how they are collected. Anybody living in Ambondromifehy who wasn’t
mining sapphires was either trading or selling them. Sapphires were important and was a
, booming industry. Sapphires were bringing people from all over the world into
Ambondromifehy. Even though sapphire was a popular stone all around the world, it served no
purpose to the people in Ambondromifehy except for selling. Not only was it useless for the
people it was also extremely dangerous for the minors. Walsh shares an interaction he had with a
man by the name of Koko as well as a man named Jao. Koko was a 21 year old man and moved
away from his home to live in Ambondromifehy. Jao moved to Ambondromifehy 2 years before
Koko and had previously mined gold in his old town. Both have worked in the sapphire industry
and explain to us what it was like. They would often work with some sort of technology and
would often share their work load with their wives. Along with mining came a huge risk. We
learn through the story that Koko and Jao tell us about in the book. Everyday when they woke
up to go mining they would have to crawl through a cave to find sapphires. While they were
crawling through the cave they got cuts on their arms and knees due to the space being enclosed
and rocks being hard and tough. They also tell us about the chasm called the fall of death. The
reason why the chasm is named the fall of death is because it is a big hole that you can not see
the bottom of. The only way that you could cross it is if you were using a small rope. If your grip
is not strong enough and you accidentally let go of the rope, you’ll fall to your death. They had
to take this risk every day. After crawling through the caves and risking your life you were then
faced with an extremely hot room. When Koko and Jao reached the place where they had to dig,
they suddenly couldn’t breathe. They could not breathe because of the extremely high
temperature in the cave, but still had to work there from 9 AM until 3 PM. They would
sometimes work until 9 pm. Koko and Jao didn’t describe this journey as going to work, they
described it as going to risk. They had to work long hours under dangerous conditions. They
even had to crawl through others bathroom remains just to get to their workplace. If their
