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l'Information Psychiatrique. Volume 83, Number 10, 815-20, décembre 2007, Stigma (2)

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Author(s) : Benjamin Bryden

Summary : Stigmatisation in Betsimisaraka: a clearer perspective from a distance.Under a remit of assisting the setting up of a provincial mental health reference network in the Madagascan province of Toamasina, we carried out several exploratory missions involving the compiling and analysis of a series of narratives in an attempt to clarify the form taken by exclusion and the stigmatisation of persons suffering from severe psychic disorders in this coastal Madagascan province. In addition to the practice we highlighted known as “ligotage” (trussing) and the body stigmata which accompany it, it was above all the particular function reserved for the mentally ill in the context of local power struggles that appeared remarkable to us. Individuals suffering from severe mental disorders, taking the form of endorcism and exorcism practices, appear to be used in the struggle opposing neo-traditional ancestrism with the new protestant Madagascan churches (FLM and FJKM) in Toamasina and Madagascar. From the ceremony of the Tromba to the Petratanana of the Tobys, the mentally ill are often only associated with rites in order to be designated… stigmatised, then excluded

Keywords : exclusion, stigmatisation, Madagascar, anthropology, severe mental disorders