L’« exceptionnalité » d’Ebola et les « réticences » populaires en Guinée-Conakry. Réflexions à partir d’une approche d’anthropologie symétrique
Abstract
This article discusses the exceptionality of the Ebola outbreak as it was experienced in Guinea-Conakry. It analyses the rationalities at work in rumors and attitudes toward the activities and teams committed to the outbreak response, described as « resistances » by the World Health Organization. It adopts a symmetrical anthropology approach, which consists in questioning the sociocultural, political and historical context, as well as the technical aspects of the response measures without granting epistemological predominance to any aspect. If the response apparatus justified the imposition of biosecurity norms by the exceptional nature of the Ebola outbreak, local populations have not always experienced the epidemic as such an outstanding event. Local discourses and reactions toward the disease are fed by a long sociocultural history and embodied in a local and national political economy fraught with mistrust and ethnic divisions. More specifically, attitudes to safe and dignified burials express a criticism of a biosafety-oriented technical apparatus, which deprives families of their rights and denies their security management capacity in mortuary space. Ultimately, so-called reticent attitudes demonstrate a response to structural violence generated by the response apparatus and correspond to some forms of mobilization to demand greater recognition of communities’ role in the management of the outbreak. This article wishes to prove that an anthropological approach to the response measures allows for a critical and symmetrical reading that does not have to be negative, but rather provides the means and arguments of a more collaborative and respectful approach to the rights and duties of communities, shedding light on the socio-political and contextual challenges of the outbreak.
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