Mémoire historique et structure sociale des sociétés lignagères, les Gouin et les Lobi du Burkina Faso

Abstract

By comparing two burkinabe societies, lineage and acephalous societies, the author proposes to show the connection between memory of the past and social structure. The Gouin and the Lobi have both known a long migration. While the Gouin have not kept this experience in their memory, the Lobi use it as the main sequence of their initiation wich is then imprinted in the memory of the initiated. This difference might have something to do with the fact that the Gouin have remained matrilineal while the Lobi have become bilineal : their secret patrilineal structure is revealed at the time of initiation along with the migratory and initiatory route. The memory of the migration seems to serve as operating concept in setting up bilinearity. On the contrary the Gouin convert neighbourly relationship into symbolic paternal kinship, thus creating mobile links that vary with neighbourhood changes.