« Sauve-souris » – poison. Précis de décomposition d’un interdit sanitaire en Afrique de l’Ouest

Sources of Ambivalence, Contagion, and Sympathy

“…This ambivalence was also noted in Burkina-Faso by Cros and Frérot (2021) in connection with the health measure that prohibits their consumption and handling because of the Ebola epidemic. While the anagram "chauve-souris" p "souche à virus" ("bat" p "virus strain," by reversing the letters) was widely disseminated in Western countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, people from French-speaking West African countries rather spoke of "sauve-souris" (saving-bat), thereby revealing its medicinal qualities.…”

“…Any search for a solution to what threatens health and wellbeing should therefore not be confined to biocentric approaches that focus solely on the pathogenic fallout that would result from the proximity between humans and animals (Cros and Frérot 2021). Indigenous ontologies and spiritualities have much to teach us about anthropozoological relationships.…”

“…Bats and humans are linked through kinship relations that allow humans to keep at a good distance, which is one of the goals of totemic identifications (Morvan 2021b). In West Africa, narratives are made to explain why bats live upside down on trees in such a way that their feces fall on the ground: it is a revenge against God's lack of consideration for them (Cros 2021). By their ambivalent status as flying mammals, bats are resources of images to think about what human societies should or should not do.…”