Contenu du sommaire : Problèmes noirs

Roger Bastide, François Raveau : Black and White Variations. The authors, an ethnologist and a psychiatrist, draw the first hypothesis from a research undertaken two years ago, on the mental illness of Africans living in France. They have tried to determine the importance of the colour of the skin in the etiology and symptoms of these patients. Principal methods used : psychiatric hospital files, case studies, dream-analysis, drawings of nevrotics, T.A.T., Rorschach. The analysis always remains qualitative. It seems that the colour factor intervenes only as the symbol of a certain social situation, but that the frustration, mental tensions etc... whatever their origin, tend to cristalisc around the contrast of black and white. The study of some cases described allow a certain number of practical, as well as theoretical, conclusions to be drawn.

L. V. Thomas : Negro-African attitudes to death. To determine the vitalistic attitudes of African Negroes, the author has studied their beliefs about death by means of a questionnaire containing open questions, the main themes of which are based on an analysis of myths, stories, songs and proverbs on the one hand, and on the other on funeral and post- funeral rites. For the African Negro, death can either be good or evil ; its various meanings range from imminent death to absolute death, and it can be either real or symbolical. The results demonstrate that the eschatological beliefs of African Negroes are based for the most part on the victory of life over death, the constant desire to avoid disorder, the continuity of social groups, and above all the solidarity of the universe of the living and that of their ancestors. These beliefs presuppose a vitalistic philosophy and also an optimistic view of society as being to a certain degree master of its own fate.

Pierre Fougeyrollas : Phenomena of acculturation among students at the Dakar university hall of residence. In view of the presumed importance of acculturation among African students, a survey was carried out among residents at the Dakar university hall of residence. The results which are to be considered merely as indicative, demonstrate a strong attachment to two aspects of African culture : community life and folklore. The influence of Western culture has led to emphasis being placed on the necessity for spreading knowledge and the democratic liberties which such culture brings with it. On the other hand Western individualism and immorality are condemned. In politics, the preferences expressed concerning certain African and other nations demonstrate a high degree of sensitivity to colonization and decolonization. Finally, it is to be noted that there is general confidence in the future of Africa compared with other continents.

Robert Pages : On psycho-sociological report ings and racism with regard to the civic march on Washington. The scientific study of human behaviour, because of an experimental and analytical trend, tends to leave out intense phenomenas. It is possible to fight this tendency, for instance, by a methodical use of psychosociological reporting. This approach is roughly applied to the « March on Washington for Jobs and Free- dom », and to the reactions observed about this manifestation. Theoretical suggestions concerning the role in racism of children's desires and norm of the perpetuance of a distinctive cultural model peculiar to the parents.