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  5. 2008

Lasa Modely: How young women learn to negotiate the sexual economy in Madagascar

Publié le 5 novembre 2008 – Mis à jour le 21 septembre 2023

5 novembre

Jennifer Cole
(University of Chicago)


Résumé

Since economic liberalization and the 'opening up' of Madagascar in the 1990s, increasing numbers of young women have sought to use the sexual economy as a route to social mobility. Although many young women hope to forge relationships with wealthy Malagasy, ideally they seek to build relationships with Europeans. Only a lucky few manage to do so. This paper examines the social construction, distribution and transmission of knowledge about the sexual economy among young women in Tamatave. It further draws comparisons between conceptions of knowledge embedded in women's everyday practices of seduction and the kinds of knowledge and opportunities created through schooling.