Le désir et ses rites. De l’ethnologie à la psychanalyse
"Le désir et ses rites. De l’ethnologie à la psychanalyse" de Charles-Henry Pradelles de Latour
The Maison Suger is pleased to host the presentation of Le désir et ses rites. De l’ethnologie à la psychanalyse by Charles-Henry Pradelles de Latour, published in 2023 by Éditions EPEL, introduced by Fabio Viti (AMU, IMAf, Société des africanistes).
Until now, myths—first and foremost the Oedipus myth—have been the main point of articulation between ethnology and psychoanalysis. Drawing on his fieldwork in a Bamileke chiefdom in Cameroon, Charles-Henry Pradelles breaks with this long-standing tradition.
In traditional sub-Saharan Africa, it is ritual—and more specifically the rites of passage regulating matrimonial alliances—that provide a fertile link between the two disciplines. These rites demonstrate that the separation between pre-genital and genital sexualities forms the basis of a non-repressive incest taboo, unknown in Western contexts.
"Le désir et ses rites. De l’ethnologie à la psychanalyse" de Charles-Henry Pradelles de Latour
Charles-Henry Pradelles de Latour
Charles-Henry Pradelles de Latour is Honorary Research Director at the CNRS. An ethnologist, he has published two monographs on the Bamileke and the Père peoples of Cameroon. As a psychoanalyst, he works in the Paris region with young African immigrants in the care of Child Welfare Services (Aide sociale à l’enfance).
Fabio Viti
Fabio Viti is an anthropologist and professor at Aix-Marseille Université (AMU). He is a researcher at IMAF-Aix, Director of the Department of Anthropology (2023–2025), and member of the doctoral school Espaces, Cultures, Sociétés (AMU). His research focuses on the political and historical anthropology of the Baoulé, slavery, personal dependency relations, labour and apprenticeship, war and violence, colonisation, among others. His main publications include:
- Il potere debole. Antropologia politica dell'Aitu nvle (Baule, Costa d'Avorio), Milano, F. Angeli,1998, 416 p.
- Schiavi, servi e dipendenti. Antropologia delle forme di dipendenza personale in Africa, Milano, Raffaello Cortina, 2007, XVIII-298 p.
- Travail et apprentissage en Afrique de l'Ouest (Sénégal, Côte d'Ivoire, Togo), Paris, Karthala, 2013, 312 p.
- La Guerre au Baoulé. Une ethnographie historique du fait guerrier, Paris, Éditions de la MSH, 2024, 496 p.
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