11

As many dwellers in big cities across the world, the inhabitants of Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital city, often compare the way of life in the urban neighbourhoods to the rural way of life in the Malagasy villages. This paper tries to explain the origin of this analogy and to understand what it really means. Two interpretations exist and stand together: the analogy gives a comforting representation of living in the city; but it can also be used to hide the acute social tensions dividing the Antananarivo society. The paper is divided in two parts. First, “the village in the city” can be observed in certain urban practices and places of sociability. But secondly, it is important to demonstrate that the reality of everyday life in the neighbourhood denies its existence.