Gender-based violence in local communities: Instrumentalization of the Akuss ritual and violence against women in the Ewondo community

Local practices in Africa, as elsewhere in the world, are in principle rooted in anthropological and identity-based resources, serving to organize the lives of community members as far as possible. However, there is a growing tendency, under the pretext of globalization, to simplistically criticize these practices, and even more to call for their annihilation. In response to this reductive and biased approach, this book offers a critical analysis of a rite performed in a Central African community. As a result, the original therapeutic potential of the akuss rite is inhibited by those who instrumentalize and falsify the rite for the benefit of hidden interests. Such a framework, combined with negative social representations of widows, is conducive to GBV and discrimination.