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The Breakdown of the Hegemonic Representation of Madness in A frica
Author(s) -
Coudin Geneviève
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal for the theory of social behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.615
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1468-5914
pISSN - 0021-8308
DOI - 10.1111/jtsb.12001
Subject(s) - hegemony , modernity , representation (politics) , sociology , social representation , identity (music) , epistemology , meaning (existential) , social psychology , psychology , gender studies , aesthetics , political science , philosophy , politics , law
Social science has recently examined the dramatic increase of witchcraft and magic in everyday contemporary A frican. A study, which took place in the 1970's, on the representation of madness in postcolonial C ongo, contributes to the elucidation of such an outgrowth. In line with the first version of L a Psychoanalyse , it aimed at identifying variations in the images, beliefs, and attitudes associated with groups whose social positioning differed in relation to modernity. Sixty old men were interviewed. The respondents provided a representation in the making that neither reflected Western knowledge nor faithfully echoed local patterns. The Western elements were anchored in a strongly objectified local belief system. For “traditional” informants the meaning attributed to madness testifies to the transformation of a hegemonic representation into a polemical one since it addressed the question of their identity shaken by modernity. An emancipated representation emerged within the most educated group. A secondary analysis of the data contributes to current theoretical debates within social representations theory in focusing on tolerance/intolerance to alternative representations through semantic barriers. It brings more evidence to the fragmentation of the hegemonic system of belief and confirms how social—identity content and relations mediate knowledge construction.