188 McInerney different marriage rules based on socio-religious groups. The most liberal rules are those of the Sunni Muslims. The Sunni Muslims can get married within their own community or within other Muslim Malagasy communities. Some Sunni Muslims have married non-Muslims and have produced mixed IndoMalagasy children, who are not identified as Indian or Karana.22 For the Shiite Muslims the endogamic pressures are strong. Possible spouses are limited to the community within Madagascar, other countries within the Indian diaspora, or India itself. In the past, marriages between close or distant cousins happened frequently because the communities in Madagascar were small, and young men did not have the money to go back to India to find a spouse.23 Hindus are supposed to marry within their caste. Getting married to someone from a different caste is already a kind of mixing. Marriages with mixed HinduMalagasy are generally not accepted, except for poorer families.24 Some Muslim individuals are able to break through the barriers to citizenship by marrying a Malagasy person and hoping their children can acquire citizenship through the administrative process. The distinction within the Nationality Code between the naturalization process and attribution or acquisition of Malagasy citizenship often differentiates access to citizenship for the Muslim population from access to citizenship for the Karana community. Broadly speaking, many of the Muslim communities within Madagascar have been more willing to intermarry which has allowed the children of these ­couples to access citizenship either by acquisition or attribution. On the other hand, the Karana have traditionally married within their own communities,25 meaning that neither parent is Malagasy, and their children remain aliens under the Code. These children’s only ability to access citizenship is through the naturalization process. As stated above, that process is largely non-existent. Living in a State of Limbo: Discrimination Against the Karana Community The judicial status of foreigners in Madagascar is divided into three cate­ gories: non-immigrants who are in the country for less than three months, immigrants who are in the country for more than three months, and stateless 3.2 22 23 24 25 Sophie Blanchy, Karana Et Banians (n 16) 283. Ibid 284-85. Ibid 288-90. Sophie Blanchy, ‘Indians in Madagascar’ (n 22) 94, ‘The Karana do not try to convert outside, but also do not agree that members of their community leave it. They refuse marriages with a member of another Indian community or with a Malagasy.’ tilburg law review 19 (2014) 182-193