Articles by Carine Plancke
Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 39(1), pp. 137-153, 2023
Womb yoga is a women's yoga practice developed in the UK from the observation that male bodies an... more Womb yoga is a women's yoga practice developed in the UK from the observation that male bodies and experiences are privileged in mainstream yoga. Based on modern postural yoga, womb yoga integrates the philosophy and mythology of śakta tantra in reference to scholarly texts and reinterprets tantric traditions in line with Anglo-American Goddess spirituality. Through body practice, chanting, visualization, and ritual, female cyclic experiences and the different stages of women's lives are approached as gateways to the divine and as opportunities for spiritual empowerment. In addition, by offering a seasonal understanding of the menstrual cycle and establishing energetic resonances between natural elements and the body, womb yoga fosters experiences of cosmic connection and communion. The study is based on ethnographic research, combining participant observation and in-depth interviews. It details the practice of womb yoga and the experiences it engenders among participants, and discusses its feminist potential.
Medical Anthropology 40(8), pp. 732-744, 2021
Alternative therapies which aim to enhance women's wellbeing have been accused of contributing to... more Alternative therapies which aim to enhance women's wellbeing have been accused of contributing to healthist and postfeminist agendas which rest upon a neoliberal logic. I critically engage with this issue here through an ethnographic study of womb yoga, a women's alternative therapy developed in the UK. I argue that while being commercial and emphasizing personal responsibility, womb yoga largely works against the current neoliberal optimization ideal. Womb yoga practitioners dismiss goaloriented self-management and discipline, and avoid a simple reproduction of gender stereotypes by deflecting care away from other-directedness and opening the interpretation of femininity to the imaginative and experiential realms.
Journal of International Women's Studies 22(5), pp. 284-298, 2021
Post-genocide politics in Rwanda aim to construct a new, modern and developed nation. Gender equa... more Post-genocide politics in Rwanda aim to construct a new, modern and developed nation. Gender equality is one of the issues highlighted to this end. However, in order to defend current reforms, politicians and feminist lobbyists generally refer to women’s traditional position as wives and mothers, embedded in the sacred value attributed to fertility. This article explores Rwandan dance to examine the evolution of views on feminine specificity and gender complementarity within the socio-political context of the promotion of gender equality. Through examining a government-supported youth troupe, founded by Tutsi returnee students, and contrasting it with a female drum troupe, which brings together mostly uneducated, middle-aged Rwandan-born women, the article interrogates the widely held view of a linear evolution from tradition, gender complementarity and women’s subordination to modernity, gender equality and women’s emancipation. Instead, it explores the degree to which divergent views on feminine difference in Rwanda foster women’s empowerment.
Anthropology & Medicine 27(3), pp. 285-299, 2020
Alternative health care and holistic spiritual practices have become increasingly popular in many... more Alternative health care and holistic spiritual practices have become increasingly popular in many Western countries, especially among women, who often claim them to be deeply transformative. This paper presents an ethnographic study of women's tantric retreats in Northwest Europe that aimed to help women reconnect with their vital sexual energy, rediscover the sacredness of their female bodies, and possibly heal from damaging and even traumatic experiences regarding their femininity and sexuality. It draws on Turner's influential view on ritual as a liminal space in order to account for the transformative potential of these workshops. Specifically, it applies Hinton and Kirmayer's flexibility hypothesis, which suggests that healing rituals shift people's mode of being-in-the-world, including their cognitive, emotional, and physical state or stance, towards openness to new ways of being. First, it highlights different ontological domains where shifts took place, notably somatic state, self-image and relationality. Subsequently, it identifies the main modalities that were used for enabling transformation: the embodiment of the metaphor of the goddess/the divine as present in each woman and the use of intimate, loving touch and meditative awareness. The process of transformation and healing elucidated in this way engaged the physical, emotional and cognitive levels as interacting dimensions, relying foremost on the activation of a vital energy that both gave participants a deep sense of self and connected beyond the self.
Sexualities 23(5-6), pp. 834-848, 2020
In our current late-modern society, sexuality, redefined as a property of the individual, has bec... more In our current late-modern society, sexuality, redefined as a property of the individual, has become a major medium for self-realisation. Consequently, individuals are increasingly resorting to counselling of all kinds in order to self-reflexively enhance their sexuality. This article examines women’s tantric retreats in Northwest Europe situated within the realm of spirituality and personal growth and aimed at developing female sexual subjectivity. Based on ethnographic study and in-depth interviews, it argues that the studied retreats allowed participants to have experiences that entailed or led to a critical distancing from socially dominant representations of (self-)objectified femininity and pornified female sexuality. First, the article shows how participants gained critical awareness with regard to the detrimental effects of defining femininity through a ‘porno-chic’ appearance, sexiness and unremitting (hetero)sexual appetite. The article further highlights how, through opposing these (self-)objectifying views and foregrounding a view of the female sex as sacred, these workshops fostered experiences of embodying the divine as grounds for female worthiness and access to spiritual wisdom. Finally, the article illustrates how possibilities arose to experience both intimate touch among women and self-touch as an erotic connection with a vital flow beyond a narrow focus on sexual activity.
Nova Religio 23(3), pp. 7-30, 2020
Bricolage, the mixing of diverse religious resources, has been highlighted as a key process in co... more Bricolage, the mixing of diverse religious resources, has been highlighted as a key process in contemporary spiritualities. Since, in this process, historically or culturally distant and foreign traditions are self-referentially drawn upon as representatives of a true spirituality deemed lost in the materialistic west, exoticism has further been identified as its core feature. In this article, through an in-depth ethnographic study, I examine operations of bricolage and exoticism in spiritual women workshops in North Western Europe that focused on the trope of the "wild woman." In particular, I highlight the transformational power of these retreats in reference to Michael Taussig's notion of mimesis as a sensuous embodiment of imagined otherness. I argue that, through enacting wildness in their bodies, the participants were overtaken by their own-historically determined-imaginations of primitiveness and naturalness, which not only created new visions of the feminine and female power, but also led to important life changes.
Social Compass 66(3), pp. 418-434, 2019
According to Paul Heelas, new spiritualities radicalise the expressivist strand in modernity and,... more According to Paul Heelas, new spiritualities radicalise the expressivist strand in modernity and, hence, not only affirm modern values but also react against them. In particular, they challenge the 'bounded self' as foundational for modern being and progress. Charles Taylor, in discussing the emergence in modern times of 'the buffered self', points to three important changes: disenchantment, the loss of the complementary play between structure and anti-structure, and the replacement of the idea of cosmos with that of a neutral, mechanical universe. This article, through a detailed ethnographic study, explores how these changes are temporally counteracted in spiritual women workshops in NorthWest Europe focused on the trope of the 'wild woman'. Moreover, it shows that these retreats bring into being ritual spaces of liminality, which have the potential to engender experiences of re-enchantment and/or give a new sense of interpersonal and cosmic connection.
Critical African Studies 11(1), pp. 1-9, 2019
In this introduction to the special issue on dance in Africa and beyond, we review the anthropolo... more In this introduction to the special issue on dance in Africa and beyond, we review the anthropological study of dance in Africa since the 1920s and introduce the seven contributions, organized around the key themes of transformed identities (both contemporary and historical), decoloniality, new media, morality, and the problematic representations of African diasporic identities in contemporary Europe. With this special
issue, we argue that the study of dance and music provides an important window into the myriad creative ways in which people in Africa and in the African diaspora deal with problematic situations, generate new artistic forms, engage with questions of ethics, and carve out spaces in which they experiment with novelty and reinvigorate their lives.
Ateliers d’anthropologie 46, 2019
Les études anthropologiques sur les lamentations ont souvent accentué le côté obligatoire de cett... more Les études anthropologiques sur les lamentations ont souvent accentué le côté obligatoire de cette pratique chantée et son rôle de consolidation sociale. Or, si l’on regarde l’expérience vécue de la pleureuse, il semble que les lamentations servent aussi à remédier à la fragmentation provoquée par la perte d’un être proche. Pareille perspective est adoptée dans cet article consacré aux lamentations funèbres chez les Punu du Congo-Brazzaville. Par une analyse du contenu des lamentations et de leur agencement stylistique, il est montré comment les pleureuses donnent voix à leurs affects, de manière à laisser s’interrompre la musicalité du chant, mais toujours rétablissent le flux musical restaurant ainsi le bien-être, qui est conceptualisé chez les Punu comme un flux réitéré. Les procédés d’approfondissement par la répétition et d’alternance entre appropriation et distanciation de par une oscillation entre le particulier et le général s’avèrent essentiels pour réaliser ce travail de deuil.
Tsantsa 23, pp. 4-13, 2018
Intensité viscérale et vitale, l’affect s’est imposé comme sujet
d’étude en sciences sociales dur... more Intensité viscérale et vitale, l’affect s’est imposé comme sujet
d’étude en sciences sociales durant la dernière décennie au
point de déclencher un «tournant affectif» (Clough et al. 2007).
L’enjeu de ce numéro est d’explorer l’intérêt de développer
cette thématique en anthropologie et le potentiel des ethnographies
de l’affect ou, plus précisément comme nous le suggérons,
des affects. Nous allons dans un premier temps situer
l’émergence d’un intérêt en sciences sociales pour le thème de
l’affect, puis, dans un deuxième temps nous esquisserons les
critiques anthropologiques à l’encontre du courant affectif.
Celles-ci concernent principalement la définition de l’affect en
opposition au langage et à la subjectivité humaine. Sa présentation
en tant que catégorie unitaire et abstraite qui minimise
toute contextualisation historique et socioculturelle est aussi
visée car elle ne permet pas une prise en compte de conceptualisations
emic. Ainsi, les contributions à ce volume proposent
des études situées qui intègrent corps et langage, matérialité
et subjectivité, et qui visent à respecter les données ethnographiques
avant toute adhésion théorique. Dans un troisième
temps, nous aborderons le thème du néolibéralisme. En effet,
ce thème est au coeur des travaux associés au courant affectif
car il inspire des lectures contradictoires des affects: ceux-ci
sont perçus soit comme une puissance qui est captée mais garde
le potentiel d’échapper à toute emprise, soit comme une force
d’attachement qui peut renforcer des structures socio-politiques.
En partant d’ethnographies détaillées, les contributions
de ce numéro spécial s’intéressent aux imbrications multiples
entre expériences affectives et réalités néolibérales dans des
contextes bien définis. Elles explorent donc des manifestations
diverses de capture, de résistance et d’attachement.
Studies in the Maternal, 2017
Since the 1970s, theories by feminist psychoanalysts trained in the Lacanian school have highligh... more Since the 1970s, theories by feminist psychoanalysts trained in the Lacanian school have highlighted the repression of the maternal in Western societies, deemed necessary to enter the symbolic realm and to become a full subject. Most recently, Bracha Ettinger has contributed to this strand of thought by developing the concept of the matrix as a primary stratum of subjectivization that is part of an enlarged symbolic besides the phallic stratum. Modelled on intimate intra-uterine sharing the matrix is a transformative borderspace of encounter which can be accessed by art practice. This article deals with a non-Western society: rural Punu society in Congo-Brazzaville, where the intra-uterine is part of the symbolic through the idiom of waterspirit beings and where relation to this waterworld and re-immersion in it are cultivated in collective song-dance rituals. It shows in detail how Punu imagery of the waterspirit world and the song-dance practices related to it give body to the matrixial, as viewed by Ettinger, in a way that is fully integrated in society and coexists with other non-matrixial dynamics.
Journal of Eastern African Studies 11(2), pp. 329-346, 2017
Since it took power by putting an end to the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has initi... more Since it took power by putting an end to the 1994 genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front has initiated the project of building a new Rwanda. The latter is conceived as a de-ethnicised nation-state which, while being " modern " and open to socioeconomic development and the processes of globalisation, remains rooted in its ancestral past. Hence, Rwandan cultural heritage is integrated in this undertaking to create a unified and developed Rwanda. This article examines the current revitalisation of so-called traditional dances in Kigali as part of the endeavour to build a new national identity. It explores the changes in dance repertoire and dynamics that are brought about in current Rwandan dance performances in order to materialise the utopia of the new Rwanda. Special attention is given to the alliances between old and new, used as a way to establish continuity with an idealised precolonial past: classical pieces alternate with novel creations; long-standing dance forms are the basis for experimenting with new figures; Western-style dresses coexist with purportedly traditional costumes; and songs, performed without the need for innovation by Twa singers and considered tokens of tradition, are joined with constantly changing choreographies staged mainly by university students. While recognizing the success of youth dance troupes in embodying the image of the new Rwanda, the article also critically addresses the unacknowledged effects of the imposition of the post-genocide state ideology: the growing uniformisation, spectacularisation and instrumentalisation of dances; persistent ethnic tensions within the troupes and Rwandan youth as well as an increasing divide between rich and poor, centre and periphery; and the marginalisation and exclusion of large parts of the population who cannot access the envisaged ideal.
Dance Research 34(2): pp. 150-169, 2016
In contemporary Rwandan society, a revitalisation of 'traditional' dances can be observed which m... more In contemporary Rwandan society, a revitalisation of 'traditional' dances can be observed which manifests in the proliferation of youth dance troupes, especially in urban areas. This revival is part of the drive, which has characterised Rwanda, to reconstruct itself after the traumatic 1994 genocide and to create a new, unified nation that strives to be 'modern' and integrated into the global market economy. This article explores the repertoire and dynamics of current Rwandan dance performances as they embody the new national identity, pointing to differences between the practices and views of dancers trained in the pre-genocide period and dancers from contemporary youth troupes. In this respect, two divergent views of creativity, found among these two categories of dancers, are distinguished: a perspective that privileges improvisation as a key creative process, on the one hand, and a view of creativity as innovation and the realisation of novel, pre-designed forms, on the other. With regard to the affective power of these performances, the article advances that contemporary dance shows generate affect, as bodily intensity, among the onlookers captured by the flow of spectacular, homogeneously performed dance forms. While evocative of Rwanda's new national identity, the latter neutralise connections with the dancers' subjective history and erase the dances' sociocultural background. In a final note, the changing dynamics in Rwandan dances are linked beyond this specific case study to the flow-closure dialectic of globalisation. It is suggested that dance's dual nature of both rhythmic flow and visual form is what makes it such a privileged marker of identity in our uncertain and violence-generating global times.
Émulations 18, pp. 7-19, 2016
Cahiers d’études africaines 220, pp. 711-737, 2015
Depuis qu'il a pris le pouvoir, en mettant fin au génocide, le Front patriotique rwandais a lancé... more Depuis qu'il a pris le pouvoir, en mettant fin au génocide, le Front patriotique rwandais a lancé le projet de construire une nouvelle nation dé-ethnicisée et moderne, qui, néanmoins, reste ancrée dans ses racines culturelles. Cet article examine la revitalisation actuelle des danses dites traditionnelles à Kigali, en explicitant la manière dont ces pratiques contribuent à donner corps au dessein de la nouvelle identité rwandaise et en détaillant les transformations qu'elles connaissent sous l'influence de l'idéologie étatique post-génocidaire. Pour ce faire, il s'appuie sur une étude de cas portant sur la troupe Inganzo Ngari, qui, de nos jours, fait figure de modèle pour les autres troupes qui foisonnent dans la capitale, et est très régulièrement invitée par des instances gouvernementales.
Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 140, pp. 91-110, 2015
During the last decades, social scientists have increasingly questioned the individual/society di... more During the last decades, social scientists have increasingly questioned the individual/society dichotomy and, as an alternative, have emphasized relationality. Actor-Network-Theory and affect theory are most representative of this shift. While considering these theories promising, anthropologists have also criticized them due to their dismissal of subjectivity, in the debarring of questions on intentionality and meaning, and their neglect of individual singularity. In this study, the action of singing songs in rural Punu society (Congo-Brazzaville) is explored as a relational, networking movement that emerges out of affect and further carries it. The singer is hereby situated as the one who, in shaping affective drives according to her experiences, situation and singularity, orients this movement and the meaning it generates. This subject-oriented approach is implemented through the in-depth presentation of two different singers and the songs composed and interpreted by them as they move through different contexts. It is shown how this creative activity not only allows the singers to voice their feelings and to manifest their unique way of being. Simultaneously, it revitalizes shared images, thoughts and values and recreates the community who, in responding to the song, acknowledges its sociocultural relevance.
Yearbook for Traditional Music 47, pp. 97-115, 2015
Funerary lament in rural Punu society (Congo-Brazzaville) manifests the oscillation that has been... more Funerary lament in rural Punu society (Congo-Brazzaville) manifests the oscillation that has been identified as constitutive of the phenomenon; it alternates between speech, melody, and crying, between other-oriented address and solitary withdrawal. This article argues that the vacillating movement of Punu lament, which allies stylized adages with melismas, exclamations, and the expression of personal memories, allows pain to be voiced in a manner that is world-making and enhances the self in relation to the group. It shows how each wailer realizes this during performance in a highly idiosyncratic manner which is attuned to her specific situation, affective mood and thoughts.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 20 (4), pp. 653-669, 2014
In rural Punu society, song-dance performances of rejoicing are deeply connected with forces of r... more In rural Punu society, song-dance performances of rejoicing are deeply connected with forces of regeneration; they not only celebrate the sexual encounter but also, in their constituent dynamic, aim to progressively awaken a shared feeling of joy that leads to the intensification of the dancing and to the creation and diffusion of new songs. I seek to account for this regenerative potential by pursuing Turner’s processual view of ritual performance which acknowledges moments of structure and lack of structure. In this regard, I develop the dynamic of community-making and creative flow in the performances with reference to Collins’ reading of Durkheim’s collective effervescence and Tarde’s idea of imitation. As a whole, I argue that paying attention to rhythm and affect, inasmuch as they are a lived realization of structure and flow, is essential for understanding the revitalizing articulation between these terms and for following the ongoing movement of the social.
Journal of Ritual Studies 28 (1), pp. 91-103, 2014
In rural Punu society (Congo-Brazzaville), song-dance rituals are held seasonally to inaugurate t... more In rural Punu society (Congo-Brazzaville), song-dance rituals are held seasonally to inaugurate the villages’ collective fishing of the pools occupied by their tutelary spirit. Because this waterspirit is attached to the ruling matriclan of the village and guarantees the society’s well-being and future by ensuring numerous pregnancies, and also providing game and fish in abundance, the celebration entails the recognition of the nurturing, life-giving and sustaining power of the mother. Call-and-answer songs evoke, in sensory detail, the spirit world which is manifested in diverse cosmic phenomena, through animals—aquatic, terrestrial and celestial—and also among humans in the form of twins. The continuous progression of the dancing, driven by this chain of songs and encircling the shelter of the celebrated spirit, actualizes its cyclic, encompassing nature in an immediate and physical manner. In a mood characterized by desire, a monodic song is sometimes launched to explicitly declare one’s belonging to the pool, itself a uterus-like life-preserving environment. When successful, the ensuing intensification of the performance triggers possession trances, which are often violent, realizing the longed for but also feared encounter between human and spirit.
By adopting Kapferer’s notion of virtuality it is suggested that, in these dance rituals, an imaginal space is created where the participants, during the performance and by way of its shifts between aesthetic media, gradually come into contact with the life-flow, embodied by the waterspirits, and adjust it by integrating into the flowing dance motion the energy released by the chaotic possession trances. The emotional dimension of this transformation is explored and, more importantly, the way it is grounded in the working of affect. In song and dance, the intensity, generated in movement, resonates as affect and becomes rhythmically attuned. The power of the waterspirit dance to stir affect and to attune it is most present in the monodic song; its melodic modulations are also affective modulations. A final example of a song, performed after this monodic song in a near ritual context, concretely shows how the circulation and adjustment of affective intensity, linking ritual and daily contexts, grounds the framing of feelings towards the spirit in terms of a maternal nurturing imagery.
Anthropologie et sociétés 36 (3), pp. 137-152, 2012
Une caractéristique de la performance dansée est d'orienter l'attention sur le mouvement en tant ... more Une caractéristique de la performance dansée est d'orienter l'attention sur le mouvement en tant que tel et d'induire une conscience proprioceptive aiguë. La double action d'incorporation et de dilatation de la gestuelle humaine et le rapport mimétique de l'individu au monde qui s'y réalise apparaissent ainsi dans leur accomplissement même. Cet argument est exploré pour le ikoku des Punu du Congo-Brazzaville. Dans cette danse qui célèbre la fertilité, un va-et-vient entre des danseurs de sexe différent donne lieu à une phase d'animation collective suivie d'une danse en couple. Par l'attention portée au corps en train de bouger à l'image de l'autre, qui est à la fois l'autre danseur et le génie de l'eau, garant du bien-être social, la performance met en acte le processus rythmomimique d'internalisation et d'externalisation de l'univers socio-cosmique punu en tant qu'il est élaboré à la fois autour de la notion d’une complémentarité des sexes et de celle d’un enveloppement maternel.
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Articles by Carine Plancke
issue, we argue that the study of dance and music provides an important window into the myriad creative ways in which people in Africa and in the African diaspora deal with problematic situations, generate new artistic forms, engage with questions of ethics, and carve out spaces in which they experiment with novelty and reinvigorate their lives.
d’étude en sciences sociales durant la dernière décennie au
point de déclencher un «tournant affectif» (Clough et al. 2007).
L’enjeu de ce numéro est d’explorer l’intérêt de développer
cette thématique en anthropologie et le potentiel des ethnographies
de l’affect ou, plus précisément comme nous le suggérons,
des affects. Nous allons dans un premier temps situer
l’émergence d’un intérêt en sciences sociales pour le thème de
l’affect, puis, dans un deuxième temps nous esquisserons les
critiques anthropologiques à l’encontre du courant affectif.
Celles-ci concernent principalement la définition de l’affect en
opposition au langage et à la subjectivité humaine. Sa présentation
en tant que catégorie unitaire et abstraite qui minimise
toute contextualisation historique et socioculturelle est aussi
visée car elle ne permet pas une prise en compte de conceptualisations
emic. Ainsi, les contributions à ce volume proposent
des études situées qui intègrent corps et langage, matérialité
et subjectivité, et qui visent à respecter les données ethnographiques
avant toute adhésion théorique. Dans un troisième
temps, nous aborderons le thème du néolibéralisme. En effet,
ce thème est au coeur des travaux associés au courant affectif
car il inspire des lectures contradictoires des affects: ceux-ci
sont perçus soit comme une puissance qui est captée mais garde
le potentiel d’échapper à toute emprise, soit comme une force
d’attachement qui peut renforcer des structures socio-politiques.
En partant d’ethnographies détaillées, les contributions
de ce numéro spécial s’intéressent aux imbrications multiples
entre expériences affectives et réalités néolibérales dans des
contextes bien définis. Elles explorent donc des manifestations
diverses de capture, de résistance et d’attachement.
By adopting Kapferer’s notion of virtuality it is suggested that, in these dance rituals, an imaginal space is created where the participants, during the performance and by way of its shifts between aesthetic media, gradually come into contact with the life-flow, embodied by the waterspirits, and adjust it by integrating into the flowing dance motion the energy released by the chaotic possession trances. The emotional dimension of this transformation is explored and, more importantly, the way it is grounded in the working of affect. In song and dance, the intensity, generated in movement, resonates as affect and becomes rhythmically attuned. The power of the waterspirit dance to stir affect and to attune it is most present in the monodic song; its melodic modulations are also affective modulations. A final example of a song, performed after this monodic song in a near ritual context, concretely shows how the circulation and adjustment of affective intensity, linking ritual and daily contexts, grounds the framing of feelings towards the spirit in terms of a maternal nurturing imagery.
issue, we argue that the study of dance and music provides an important window into the myriad creative ways in which people in Africa and in the African diaspora deal with problematic situations, generate new artistic forms, engage with questions of ethics, and carve out spaces in which they experiment with novelty and reinvigorate their lives.
d’étude en sciences sociales durant la dernière décennie au
point de déclencher un «tournant affectif» (Clough et al. 2007).
L’enjeu de ce numéro est d’explorer l’intérêt de développer
cette thématique en anthropologie et le potentiel des ethnographies
de l’affect ou, plus précisément comme nous le suggérons,
des affects. Nous allons dans un premier temps situer
l’émergence d’un intérêt en sciences sociales pour le thème de
l’affect, puis, dans un deuxième temps nous esquisserons les
critiques anthropologiques à l’encontre du courant affectif.
Celles-ci concernent principalement la définition de l’affect en
opposition au langage et à la subjectivité humaine. Sa présentation
en tant que catégorie unitaire et abstraite qui minimise
toute contextualisation historique et socioculturelle est aussi
visée car elle ne permet pas une prise en compte de conceptualisations
emic. Ainsi, les contributions à ce volume proposent
des études situées qui intègrent corps et langage, matérialité
et subjectivité, et qui visent à respecter les données ethnographiques
avant toute adhésion théorique. Dans un troisième
temps, nous aborderons le thème du néolibéralisme. En effet,
ce thème est au coeur des travaux associés au courant affectif
car il inspire des lectures contradictoires des affects: ceux-ci
sont perçus soit comme une puissance qui est captée mais garde
le potentiel d’échapper à toute emprise, soit comme une force
d’attachement qui peut renforcer des structures socio-politiques.
En partant d’ethnographies détaillées, les contributions
de ce numéro spécial s’intéressent aux imbrications multiples
entre expériences affectives et réalités néolibérales dans des
contextes bien définis. Elles explorent donc des manifestations
diverses de capture, de résistance et d’attachement.
By adopting Kapferer’s notion of virtuality it is suggested that, in these dance rituals, an imaginal space is created where the participants, during the performance and by way of its shifts between aesthetic media, gradually come into contact with the life-flow, embodied by the waterspirits, and adjust it by integrating into the flowing dance motion the energy released by the chaotic possession trances. The emotional dimension of this transformation is explored and, more importantly, the way it is grounded in the working of affect. In song and dance, the intensity, generated in movement, resonates as affect and becomes rhythmically attuned. The power of the waterspirit dance to stir affect and to attune it is most present in the monodic song; its melodic modulations are also affective modulations. A final example of a song, performed after this monodic song in a near ritual context, concretely shows how the circulation and adjustment of affective intensity, linking ritual and daily contexts, grounds the framing of feelings towards the spirit in terms of a maternal nurturing imagery.
les affects et les transportant eux-mêmes, ils font naître des élans rythmés qui
rassemblent les participants et les rattachent aux univers plus-qu’humains ;
ils éveillent des inspirations qui régénèrent des réalités sociocosmiques partagées.
En se fondant sur sa propre participation en tant que danseuse, Carine
Plancke conduit le lecteur au coeur d’événements enregistrés et l’invite à
suivre au plus près leur déploiement progressif. Il peut ainsi éprouver les
éclosions corporelles qui les produisent et appréhender les dynamiques relationnelles
qui s’y épanouissent.
Une approche théorique novatrice en découle, qui conçoit les liaisons et
les résonances intercorporelles comme une véritable source de socialité. À
cet égard, le livre développe des thématiques peu abordées, celles des affects,
du rythme, du maternel… Oscillant entre l’exploration de formes déterminées
et la plongée dans le flux d’émergence, il rejoint la dynamique régénératrice
qui préoccupe les sociétés du Bas-Congo. Plus largement, l’ouvrage
ouvre la voie à une « anthropologie de l’entre-deux », laquelle non
seulement pense le mouvement mais est elle-même agie par le mouvement.