‘To Each Their Own’

Abstract In 2014 a violent encounter unfolded at the royal cemetery of Betsioka between Christian evangelists and their antagonists: spirit mediums, shrine caretakers, and monarchical-ancestral spirits (tromba). The narratives provided by members of the Malagasy Church of Jesus Christ, alongside those offered by spirits and their human supplicants, paint an intimate portrait of the two groups’ competing ideologies. The event emerged from longstanding tensions between indigenous Sakalava communities and highlander Protestant migrants who demonize possession rituals attached to the Sakalava monarchical system. Critically, both parties mediated their disagreement through the shared understanding that each individual has a unique destiny and should be free to follow their own religious commitments. Discourse on predestined individual difference challenged the actions of evangelists who saw the ‘traditions of the ancestors’ as incommensurable with Christian life. Increasing Christian nationalism on the island highlights the awkward place that aggressive proselytization occupies in religious rights debates.