De l’incestuel à l’enfant-sorcier : des mots pour le dire

Abstract

AimsThis paper sets out to explore the unconscious meanings and functions of the “witch-child” aetiology appearing in the discourse of families from sub-Saharan Africa (in the present instance Bamileke), and its possible links with an “incestuel” (as opposed to incestuous) family dynamic. We have sought to show the possible points of transition between concepts that belong to different resisters, using a singular clinical situation which is nevertheless just one of the possible manifestations of the link between the witch-child and an “incestuel” family climate. From this particular issue, we also seek to show the permanent articulation between psyche and culture, and the way each casts light on the other. This dimension appeared to us to be particularly important for the reflection of the clinician, for a finer understanding of the clinical setting, and thus for the psychotherapeutic process enacted with these families. MethodIn order to explore the potential of the “witch-child” representation to put certain “unspeakable” histories occurring in an “incestuel” climate into words and images, we looked for the presence of unconscious fantasies common to these two entities, clinical and anthropological. Alongside, using one main clinical situation, we sought to show how these two different registers can connect, or even overlay one another. The history of Leo and his mother seemed to us to be the best suited to demonstrate the subject's attempts at a metaphorisation process. The study of these two dimensions enabled us to form a few hypotheses on the recourse to this singular aetiology. ResultsIt can be seen that in certain situations reference to the witch-child can be seen as an attempt to put an “incestuel” experience fraught with numerous confusions into words. It can however be noted that the child thus pointed to as being a witch-child may not be the subject caught up in the “incestuel” atmosphere. Indeed, the two individuals concerned often belong to different generations. Reference to this cultural entity then serves as a means to put words on an unrepresented experience, and is in fact an attempt to find a psychic remedy. It should however be emphasised that this process of translation-figuration often fails, unless another person is there to receive the different languages in which it is expressed. Otherwise, the confusion that the subject is trying to escape merely increases. The careful study of these families thus shows that their relationship with the group from which they originate, the Bamileke, also reflects their pathological functioning, since a traditionally patrilinear structure is replaced by a family organisation centred on the rejection of otherness, placing the sole mother–daughter relationship at the centre of filiation, and thus taking on the mask of a matrilinear structure. DiscussionThese various elements suggest the need to take account of the articulations between psyche and culture. It is clear that it is important to hear the subject on the multiplicity and the complexity of his/her different components, and that the understanding of psychopathological situations can be enhanced by the contributions of anthropology. Humans should be reduced neither to their unconscious functioning, nor to their particular culture. This also shows that in some instances the position of a subject in relation to the group can be an indicator of a pathological family functioning. ConclusionFirst of all, this work shows the impossibility of putting a name on an “incestuel” family functioning and the ensuing confusion. Resorting to the aetiology of the witch-child appears here as a metaphor of this type of functioning, on account of the equivalent unconscious fantasies that underpin the two dynamics. However, only the articulation of the two registers, culture and psyche, in the setting of work on meaning, will enable the subjects concerned to embark on an elaboration. It is here that, by way of metaphorisation, this work cane enable a process of translation, figuration and individuation to occur.