Isle of Fire: The Political Ecology of Landscape Burning in Madagascar (Volume 245)

by Christian A. Kull

Long considered both best friend and worst enemy to humankind, fire is at once creative and destructive. On the endangered tropical island of Madagascar, these two faces of fire have fueled a century-long conflict between rural farmers and island leaders. Based on detailed fieldwork in Malagasy villages and a thorough archival investigation, Isle of Fire offers a detailed analysis of why Madagascar has always been aflame, why it always will be aflame, and ultimately, as Christian Kull argues, why it should remain aflame.

Genres: Madagascar

256 pages, Paperback

First published July 7, 2004

Reviews

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was definitely interesting, and I'm not really enough of an expert to critique it properly. However, it seemed to me that Kull took his pro-fire arguments a bit too far, especially in his advocacy for tavy slash-and-burn agriculture. While it's clear that burning for pasture management makes sense as a technique for long-term environmental control, he doesn't really deal with the issue of the long-term degradation caused by tavy.