Abstract
This paper provides supplimentary notes on the flexibility of ethnicity in the vicinity of Lake Alaotra Madagascar. It deals with a settlement, Befody, in the fringe area of the Sihanaka. Befody mostly consists of immigrant Betsimisaraka from the south and west. They identify themselves as Betsimisaraka; but out siders, mainly the Sihanaka, regard them a part of the Sihanaka. In actuality there are differences between Befody people and other Sihanaka in pursuing subsistence and in tomb-centered grouping: the Betsimisaraka are engaged in swidden cultivation as well as wetrice cultivation and tomb-centered groupings are not observed in Befody. Otherwise, they live a Sihanaka life. So their ethnicity becomes an arbitrary label.
