Les cousinages de plaisanterie en afrique de l'ouest, entre particularismes et universalismes

Abstract

Joking relationships in West Africa illustrate in an original way the tension between ethnocentrism and tolerance, hierarchy and conflict, which lies at the core of the encounter with the "other". These daily relationships can be read simultaneously as a confirmation of "otherness" - through the joyful expression of stereotypes - and the establishment of a sympathetic "closeness" link between joking partners, combining elements of both universalism and parochialism, which should therefore lead us to reconsider the passing points between the two concepts.