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Anthropologie et Sociétés

Éléments d'une sémiologie anthropologique des troubles psychiqueschez les Bambara, Soninké et Bwa du Mali

Ellen Corin, Gilles Bibeau and Elizabeth Uchôa

Folies / espaces de sensVolume 17, Number 1-2, 1993

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/015254arDOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/015254ar

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Publisher(s)

Département d'anthropologie de l'Université Laval

ISSN

0702-8997 (print)1703-7921 (digital)

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Corin, E., Bibeau, G. & Uchôa, E. (1993). Éléments d'une sémiologie anthropologiquedes troubles psychiques chez les Bambara, Soninké et Bwa du Mali. Anthropologie etSociétés, 17 (1-2), 125–156. https://doi.org/10.7202/015254ar

Article abstract

Eléments of an Anthropologie al Semiology of Mental Health Problems amongBambara, Soninké and Bwa in Mali

The narratives of people with mental health problems among several ethnie groups inMali lead one to observe that popular semiology (markers which serve to identify theprésence of a problem) is organized around several key catégories which varyaccording to one's ethnicity. Thèse catégories, présent among particular groups, referto relationship dynamics, cultural values, the concept of « self » and to the vision ofthe world. This analysis focuses on the comparison between the relative importanceof relationship problems and isolation be-havior, the particular connotations of thèsebehaviors and their place in the narrative and semiological webs of the Bambara,Soninké and Bwa. Local sémiologies are shown to be rooted in the culturallydetermined supernarrative context as well as in général urbanization processes. Theanalysis contrasts the articulation of narratives to the cultural configurations whichserve to give them meaning.