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‘Caste’ in Africa: the evidence from south-western Ethiopia reconsidered

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2011

Alula Pankhurst
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Résumé

Cet article conteste l'usage répandu du concept de “caste” pour décrire des professions minoritaires marginalisées dans le Sud-Ouest de l'Ethiopie. Il aborde trois types d'objections: idéologique, génétique et structurel, se rapportant respectivement aux facteurs culturels, historiques et sociaux. En termes idéologiques, la marginalisation est généralement non justifiée à travers une philosophie religieuse cohérente; les mythes sont souvent absents et rarement élaborés, et n'expliquent pas une hiérarchie différentielle des groupes de professions. Des notions de pollution sont largement répandues et généralement présentées dans l'idiome dominant des transgressions alimentaires; mais la majorité rurale n'est pas considérée pure. En termes génétiques, aucun des modèles existants n'explique les origines de tous les groupes marginalisés. Tandis que le modèle “vestiges” est largement discrédité et le modèle “différenciation interne” actuellement privilégié, cet article souligne l'importance de la migration qui est intimement liéc aux professions non-rurales ainsi qu'à des statuts marginalisés et minoritaires. Une absence de modèle interculturellement valide unique, des explications multiples et des différences parmi divers types de groupes de professions (intragroupes et intergroupes) compromettent l'usage du concept de “caste” pour interpréter les origines des groupes marginalisés dans le Sud-Ouest de l'Ethiopie. En termes structurels, l'usage du terme “caste” ne s'applique pas à la majorité rurale mais uniquement à la minorité des artisans et des chasseurs. Toutefois, l'argument selon lequel les rapports entre les marginalisés et les groupes dominants reposent sur des rapports patron-client dyadiques n'infirme pas la nette marginalisation structurelle politique, économique et sociale. Quant à l'argument selon lequel les marginalisés forment un bloc unique indifférencié, il est suggéré que l'endogamie porte à la différenciation en dépit de la rareté de hiérarchies strictes. Plutôt qu'un manque de hiérarchie, les variations et les changements spatiaux survenus au fil du temps méritent une explication; ceci suggère qu'on ne peut pas parler de principe organisationnel cohérent comparable à celui que l'on peut s'attendre à trouver dans les sociétés de “castes”. L'article en conclut que le manque de fondement culturel idéologique uniforme, les origines et processus de marginalisation complexes et variés, ainsi que les rapports structurels spécifiques entre la majorité et les groupes dominés suggerènt que le concept de “caste” n'a qu'une valeur analytique minimale et qu'il est done préférable de le limiter au contexte indien. Une meilleure compréhension de la marginalisation peut passer initialement par l'analyse des différentes conceptions locales et de la façon dont l'endogamie structure la différenciation et est liée à la profession. Une analyse plus claire des processus de marginalisation impliquerait une étude suivie des migrations, de la concurrence à l'égard des ressources et de l'évolution des rapports technologiques, économiques, sociaux et culturels entre les artisans et les groupes dominants ainsi que des interactions interethniques.

Type
Past paradigms, present data
Information
Africa , Volume 69 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 485 - 509
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1999

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