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COERCION, FETISHES AND SUFFERING IN THE DAILY LIVES OF YOUNG NIGERIAN WOMEN IN ITALY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2012

Simona Taliani
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Abstract

In the aftermath of social conflicts and urban violence between autochthons and migrants in Italy in recent years, the question of how to control the growing number of illegal immigrants is increasingly discussed in the language of zero-tolerance anti-crime campaigns. Traffic in women has been a ‘structural’ social reality in the Italian migration landscape over the last 15 years, and is a prominent aspect of illegal female migration. These women are qualified as ‘victims of human trafficking’ when they denounce their pimps. Most of their suffering – involving psychological or psychiatric symptoms and requiring psychosocial support – is expressed through an emic vocabulary that talks about fetishes, spirit possession, witchcraft, sacrifice, debts, and spiritual and moral deliverance. This study – based on extensive field research in Turin into an Ethno-Psychiatric Service (provided by the Frantz Fanon Centre) in which 50 Nigerian women participated – addresses the following anthropological issues: the relationship between emic vocabulary (so called ‘voodoo’ or ‘juju’), migration, and moral economies of violence; and the intersection between symbolic violence and coercion, as experienced through sexual abuse and/or ritual violence (occurring both in Nigeria and Italy, and also during the migration itself in different countries such as Benin, Mali and Libya). In the conclusion of this article, I underline the limits of psychiatric and psychological therapeutical methods vis-à-vis the symptoms and traumatic experiences that ‘mark’ these female bodies; and I discuss in particular the emergence of new forms of post-colonial disorders affecting subjects who are at the mercy of compromised desires.

Resumé

Au lendemain des conflits sociaux et de la violence urbaine entre autochtones et migrants en Italie ces dernières années, la question de la manière de contrôler le nombre croissant d'immigrés clandestins est de plus en plus débattue dans le langage des campagnes de tolérance zéro dans la lutte contre la criminalité. Le trafic des femmes est une réalité sociale « structurelle » du paysage de l'immigration en Italie de ces 15 dernières années, et un aspect important de l'immigration clandestine des femmes. Ces femmes sont qualifiées de « victimes de trafic humain » lorsqu'elles dénoncent leurs proxénètes. L'essentiel de leur souffrance (qui comprend des symptômes psychologiques ou psychiatriques nécessitant un soutien psychosocial) s'exprime à travers un vocabulaire émique qui parle de fétiches, de possession d'esprit, de sorcellerie, de sacrifice, de dettes et de délivrance spirituelle et morale. Cette étude, basée sur d'importants travaux de terrain menés à Turin dans un service ethnopsychiatrique (géré par le Centre Frantz Fanon) auxquels ont participé 50 femmes nigérianes, traite des questions anthropologiques suivantes : la relation entre vocabulaire émique (dit « vaudou » ou « ju-ju »), migration et économies morales de la violence ; et l'intersection entre violence symbolique et coercition, telle que vécue à travers l'abus sexuel et/ou la violence rituelle (présents au Nigeria et en Italie, mais aussi pendant la migration elle-même dans des pays comme le Bénin, le Mali et la Libye). En conclusion, l'article souligne les limites des méthodes thérapeutiques psychiatriques et psychologiques quant aux symptômes et aux expériences traumatiques qui « marquent » le corps de ces femmes. Enfin, il évoque en particulier l’émergence de nouvelles formes de troubles postcoloniaux affectant les sujets qui sont à la merci de désirs hypothéqués.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 82 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 579 - 608
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 2012

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